The Green Forest tribune., 1909-10-15
FARM PROBLEMS IN SCHOOLS
Vision of Country Teacher Who Has Solved .Them-New Word "Soci-
 alization" Defined.

ing school teacher of the Macomb, H., i the farmers problem and the country teachers relation to it., because she has most strikingly demonstrated what specialization of the farmers" means in a real rural school of that county. She knows her ideas are workable because she has worked them, and her work and ideas com mand the attention and respect of the teachers and farmers who know them Here is the gist of what she said as president of the Country Teachers as- sociation of Illinois at it's Macomb meeting July 22-23.
 The farm problem is not the prob lem of increasing the fertility of the soil, of improving the quality of corn, or of conserving our foods, forests, or other natural resources. It is not the problem of increasing his store of wealth. Neither is it the problem of making rural life easy and com fortable. All these are parts of the real issue, but they are not the prob lem itself
 The farm problem in it's most fun damental aspects, is the problem of maintaining upon our farms class of people who shall be the equal of any people in American national life.
 The problems of the city are due to congestion, those of the country to isolation. During the winter or early spring months bad roads alone make hermits of many families.
 The snow-bound days pictured by Whittier in his charming idyl are no longer frequent occurrences but less poetic and mud-stuck days are still an existing reality. Physical isola- tion and the economic independence of the farm are the fundamental causes of social isolation.
 It's effects are the well-known COR. servatism of the farmer, the occa- sional startling departures of an in- tense radicalism, and his (much exag- geratedD provincialism.
 A fourth and most far-reaching re. suit is the lack of organization among farmers with the accompanying lack of leaders. Social education in the country is picked up" and progress is accidental development, rather than constant, purposeful and steady growth.
 The effects of physical and social isolation, unheeded and stoically en. dured, rather than intelligently con- trolled, have resulted in conditions making farm life unattractive and un. desirable. Herein lies the cause of the silent but steady migration from the farm to the city. This brings us face to face with the question of mak' ing the farm ''ft to stay upon" and reveals the true farm problem.
 The permanent solution of this prob. lem can be brought about only through the specialization of the farm. ers--impressing upon them their re. responsibilities as individuals in the ] community and members of the na. tional social order, and the value of cooperation in gaining common ends. | This process is a matter of education and can be attained only through the influence of the home, the church, the farm organizations now represented chiefly by the Grange and Farmers l institute, the agricultural and general press and the country schools. Tine shortest cut to the solution of the farm problem is through the upbuild- ing of these four agencies, and above all, through the improvement of the school
 There was a time when the country school was in the center of neighbor. hood life; when spelling bees, literary societies, singing schools and debating societies made it the life of the com, munity, but that time has gone by; l the ungraded system belongs to the past.
 What the unobserving, minimizing | farmer to-day recalls as the country school of his boyhood no longer ex. ists. The wide-awake, muscular, schol. arly young man he remembers as the usual teacher, has long ago attained his desired ambition in the law or the ministry, and been replaced by an inexperienced and untrained slip oi a girl from some city high school or neighboring community. The comfort able, convenient building he remem bers is now aged and dilapidated; while the troop of hearty boys and girls his imaginatoE sees have turned cityward in search of more extended course than the old system can main tain, and ueft but handful of unfor tunate ragglers. The old country school of the past has gone never tc return. Here and there are excep tional communities where the highest possible efficiency of the system is still realized.
 But under the most favorable condi tions three incurable defects remain l. With six or eight grades and foul daily recitations to each, one teacher cannot possibly do the work well. 2 Small enrolment. Children lose in terest, dawdle and often drop out oi school through the simple lack ol companionable associates.