Omaha daily bee., 1905-12-03
COUNTRY SCHOOLS DAY PAST
A Notable Institution Gradually Gsing
Out Of Existence
CENTRALIZED SCHOOLS TAKE ITS PLACE
BETTER Instruction and Better Ac-
conmOdations for the Pupils
Marked Advantages of
the New Plan.

Before long the dodo itself will not ba
more extinct than the old-tima country
school. As a people we have had a mania.
Tor multiplying school houses. We dotted
on landscape we'll supplied with them
Times have changed. Country schools
are being Shut up by the score But don't
get excited. The young idea is not being
deprived OF its right to shoot. On the con-
uary' II Is at last receiving just as good
ehance along that line as used to be the
exclusive privilege of town children.
rms Is the way 1t is done. Take any
Where from two to a dozen spindllng, tot
tering, half dead country schools. There
are thousands Of them Throughout the
east the rural school population has
dwindled to half what IL used to be.
One reason is the movement toward the
cities. Another is that the degree and kind
Of learning handed out I'm these familiar
little old buildings wasn't able TO bring a
child within less than long distance COM
munication with an education
II was nobodys fault of course You
can't expect Mamie Smith, aged IS, at $40
a month and her board. to be of the proper
caliber to teach an assortment Of pupils
from to 81 years OF age. At any rate
Mamie must be forgiven II the higher
bra ches are rather sighted Such a school
Is apt to degenerate into a mere set-to be-
tween teacher and pupils, in which all the
rules and most OF the furniture get sadly
out OF repair
The New system.
Under the new system all Of these
scratch-scrabble schools In township are
closed. If there already exists a graded
school within the township, the country
pupils are taken back and forth between
their homes and the school, the cost of
their transportation being paid out of the
school fund of the township.
The result is that the country children
have the same advantages as those in
town. And the cost to the township is less
The reports on the working Of the new
system are interesting. The change began
in New England, but now is in use in
about thirty states.
The south. where the school funds are
lamentably small and the country districts
are lucky to get three months poor teach
ing In the course of the year. is behind the
procession. But in Florida, Virginia, North
Carolina and Georgia the system is gradu-
ally gaining ground.
In the north II is fairly revoiutionizing
farm life. Take one instance-that Of
Green township. Trumbull county, Ohio.
This Is the real country. Not a city, not
town, not even a sizable village in the
township. This is a rural community IL
ever there was one. 1t is eleven miles from
one railroad and six miles from another
The township itself is five miles square.
In 1900 the people OF Green township
built modern brick school house at a cost
of 5000. The building is steam heated. It
contains six class rooms, with two addi-
tional rooms, one for a library, the other
for ONCE and reception room.
There is a basement under the entire
building Part. of this is for a laboratory
and gymnasium. The campus contains
three acres
The building is in the center Of the town
shin and all the children of school age
are brought to II in the, morning and taken
home at the close Of school in eight wagons
regularly engaged for that purpose.
improvements Noted.
During the first year after the closing
Of the small. scattered schools and the
opening of the central one. the enrolment
increased from $50 to $50 and the average
attendance was more than proportionately
higher, Hardness, as In all these CEN
rallied schools. is unknown. The drivers
IRE under contract to bring their loads OF
children to school in time, and the children
soon learn to be ready for the wagon.
These wagons are generally long hacks
'r barges, with seats along the sides. The
aw requires that they be provided with
curtains for stormy weather, with lap robes
md hot soapstones.
TIE drivers must be responsible persons.
Zach driver has a special route and though,
II course. some children may have a longer
Tide than their souls really crave. this is
'ffset by the fact that nobody has to tramp
through rain, mud slush or snow and then
sit in school with wet feet and clothing
In townships like Green, where there is
no village or town life, this central school
life is an element OF almost incalculable
power. II brings about friendships which
unite the scattered families of the district.
1t raises the standard of intelligence.
II gives the boys wholesome and hitherto
impossible knowledge OF sport, for on the
campus base ball, foot ball and other ath-
letic games were played.
Even special teachers in music, nature
study and drawing make regular visits to
these centralized schools. whose pupils a
few years ago were wrestling rudely with