Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-07-17
The Lack Of Educational Advantages
.>' in Rural North Dakota
ARLAND D. WEEKS, Professor Of Education
North Dakota Agricultural College

(From an address before the school
directors of LaMoure county)
Twenty-one counties in North Da.
kota do not have first class high
schools. In the remaining counties
Of the state the first class high
schools are invariably located in the
larger towns, a fact which enables
the young people Of these towns to
pursue a high school course, but
leaves the problem of supplying a
high school education to those outside
of the towns unsolved.
Assuming that high school students
for the most part should eat and
sleep under their parents roofs, it is
evident that rural North Dakota, in
Guiding no doubt the great bulk Of the
population of the state, does not pos
sess high school facilities. Young
people who live in towns where there
are high schools, or live near enough
SO they can come in the morning and
get back home in the evening, may
fairly ibe said to have high school ad-
vantages. Moreover, few parents are
willing that their children should
leave home to attend school at IA
or is, the age at which students u.s.
ually finish the graded and rural
schools. All of the larger towns of
North Dakota have high schools. The
majority Of young people in the rest
of the state are from ten to fifty
miles from high schools.
The inference is that WE HAVE
HIGH SCHOOLS IN NORTH DAKO-
Ia FOR THE TOWN POPULATION
ONLY. The young people so unfort-
innate as to be born in the country
are virtually penalized. The bright,
young people in the towns find the
doors open to them to high schools.
The country boy and girl discover
that popular education for them is
myth.
This frequently occurs: A class Of
ten to twenty complete the courses
Of graded school, or a handful comes
to the limit OF the isolated country
school. There is no high school with.
in reasonable distance. One child out
Of a dozen, or two, manages to make
his way Immediately or years later,
to a high school. The rest fall by
the wayside. Further education for
them is not available,
The results Of this evil system are
readily observed. There are thous'
ands of young men and women in the
state, too old to begin high school
course gracefully, and too intelligent
not to bitterly regret their inadequate
education. They flock in by the hun
dreds for special short courses arrang
ed for their benefit by the agricultur
al college. But for the most part
they are stalled and discouraged.
They represent the failure of the sec;
Dndary school system in North Dakota
to reach persons of secondary school
age. Why are the country boys and
girls not given high school facilities.
Is 1t necessary that broad line be
drawn between the country and the
city child in, educational advantages?
It used to he thought that all the
great men came from the country.
Some still think so. The recent ex'
tensive Investigations show that cit
les. of 5000 population and above, are
proportfonately twice as
many eminent men to the nation as
is the country. Times have changed.
As the case now stands the country
boy has, half as good a chance to
rise as the boy in the city. If educa-
tional conditions are not improved in
the; country, in ten years he will prob
ably have about fourth as. good a
chance. :.
4 Leaving high school facilities out of
The question, what are the relative ad-
yantages of the country child, and the
city child in the elementary schools?
There are. a number of advantages
possessed by the city child, of which
only one will be mentioned-superior
qualifications of teachers. In the. city
Of jamestown every teacher is nor
NAL or college. graduate, but, IN the
rural. schools lot. stutsmh 8 county,
IS per cent Of the teachers are not
college or normal graduates, but DO
NOT POSSESS THE EQUIVALENT
Of A5HGH SCHOOL EDUCATION:
IN the city Of Bottineau all the teach
BIS are college or normal graduates,
But In the rural schools of Bottineau'
county rs per, cent OF the teachers
Ire reported as mot having the equiv.
alent Of a high school education. The
afty-seyen grade teachers in the city
- Fargo orc oil oifhor torffn0o ~