Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1910-09-02

|
[Schoolboys who won the trophy for the
| best corn Judging at the short course
at the Iowa State Agricultural college,
1901
life must be most manifest in the
school. The fault Is not primarily
with the teacher. but with the system.
The chief fault with the rural schools
Is that there are too many Of them.
In Iowa there are 27S schools with few
er than five pupils each. There are
1858 schools with an average Of fewer
than ten pupils. Tho schools have been
established with the idea of numbers
rather than quality. There is school
house every two miles with monoto-
nous regularity, whether there are any
pupils or not. Under such conditions
large share of the school funds is
used in maintaining the small schools.
The result is cheap teachers, poor
schoolhouses and nlcager equipment.
The most advanced rural commune
ties are getting around this difficulty
by consolidation. In some places two
schools are brought together, in others
u
good. well equipped schoolhouse takes
the place Of several poor ones. Fewer
teachers are needed. and the money
can be used to hire better ones. A plot
Of ground can be purchased for a
school garden, and the schoolhouse
can have trees and a lawn.
Local pride has been one of the OBJ
stacles III the way Of consolidation.
The patrons Of a school district dislike
to have their schoolhouse taken away
even though there are but two or three
pupils Of school age in the district.
Local pride Is commendable thing.
There Is just as much local pride In a
consolidated district. but 1t is little
wider In its scope. The pride based
upon modern consolidated school has
much more foundation than the pride
that objects to having dilapfdated.
poorly attended schoolhouse removed.
The question Of getting pupils to and
one in some localities. The coming OF
better roads is doing much to solve
that. Even in the largest consolidat-
ed school districts the bulk Of the pu-
pills are within two or three miles of
the schoolhouse. Often stables are pro-
vided near the schoolhouse, where the
pupils from the corners of the district
can keep their horses. More often the
children are hauled in covered wagons
at the expense of the district.
The consolidated rural schools are
developing system Of education all
their own. They are no longer im1-
tators Of the city schools. They are
of the country and for the country.
Objection has been made to the intro
duction Of agriculture into the rural
schools on the ground that the courses
are already crowded. There Is some
ground for this objection In the old
fashioned district school. In the con-
solidated school better grading Is pos
sible. the pupils learn thing well
when they go over it. and endless
repetition is unnecessary. Every one
who has attended district school re-
members the endless routine OF selec-
tons In the reader. which must be
gone over time and again until they
could almost be read without looking
at the book. Arithmetic was much
the same. Often there was new
teacher each term. and she went on
the principle that the advanced class
should be put back to fractions to
start with History was another end
less circle. Geography was list OF
towns and seas to be memorized.
In the consolidated school the work
IS systematized and made more thor
ough. The time saved can so to some
of the newer branches which relate to
agriculture. 1t Is not the actual agri-
culture taught in these schools that
makes them the most effective. how