The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1903-03-07
Consolidation Of Country
! Schools.

Ii Ufle llUUle Ieu
is no longer called ''the Palladium
, of American liberties" that fact
is due quite as much to realiza-
ton of the limitations of the old
style district school as to the
general decline in Oratory. Take
the case in the West: in Iowa,
out of $4,000 schools, 5000 have
an average attendance of less
than twenty, $500 of less than
ten. That means that in only
one school in nine can the ser
vices Of a permanent and a thor
Oughly competent teacher be
afforded. These district schools
are a sufficient provision against
mere illiteracy, but that they are
good schools nobody could fairly
maintain. Not only are they
served by underpaid teachers of
little experience, but the classes
are too small, and the material
equipment too restricted to get
the best results.
Feeling the deficiencies of the
small country schools, Il number
of States have passed laws au-
thOrizing the consolidation of
school districts. In the last SEES
sion of the New York Legislature
such an act was passed for the
sparsely settled county of ST.
Lawrence. This was a tardy &C
ceptance of Il principle that had
been widely approved elsewhere.
In Mr.. Clarence II. MatsOn'S ar
ticle "COuntry Schools: The New
Plan,' in the Outlook for De-
cember 81, one will find that
eighteen States have adopted the
scheme of consolidation for a
part, at least, of their territory.
In this list are the six New Eng
land States, New York, New Jer-
sey, and Pennsylvania: Ohio and
Indiana: Wisconsin, Iowa, Ne
braska, Kansas: the DakotaS and
and Florida. In view of these
facts, no one can doubt that the
country school district in thinly
settled regions has proved too
small and too poor a unit to man
age its own affairs SatiSfac tOrily.
The multiplication of red school
houses was in many respects as
unecOnOmical and proc uctive of
educational mediocrity aSthe sim
liar duplication of white meeting
houses had been of religious in
efficiency.
How great a change the con-
sOlidation of several districts
makes is interestingly shown by
Mr.. MatSon in the article already
cited. The One-rOOm school
houses disappear, and a rela-
lively large and convenient build
ing rises at some central point.
Formerly, no one of the districts
maintained a high school: now
the federated districts provide
for one at practically no addi-
tional expense. This is perhaps
the greatest advantage Of the
plan, for the high school reacts
upon the primary school, and
makes the whole course more
and valuable. A
novel and obviously a necessary
innovation is the provision Of
free transportation for children
who come from Il distance. This
is made at little expense by a
system of covered school wagons
which ply through the outlying
of the school, incident
ally improving the attendance
and Dunctuality Of the pupils.
Upon the educational gain of |
it is unnecessary to |
dwell; the lengthening Of the |
school year, the Improvement of |
all the equipment, the proper
of pupils, the rails
ing of the standard for teachers,
the growth of the spirit of emu
latiOn, which is the life of a
school, are among the
advantages thus Sc
cured. 1t might be supposed |
that to add transportation and a
high school to existing school |
facilities would greatly increase
the burden of taxation. One
would welcome statistics at this
point: though Mr.. Matson shows
in the case of several Iowa and
Kansas schools that the ecOnO-
mics of consolidation largely
cover the extension of the school
courses, and that many of the
new schools pay only about $1S
a year tuition per pupil. Even
in cases where the apparent in
crease in cost is as much as one
third las in the pioneer Lorraine
School in Kansas) the attendance
has so greatly improved that
there is an actual saving in cost
per capita on average daily atten-
dance.
But the financial advantages