The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser., 1910-11-04

81 The familiar little structure at
H the country crossroads Is
III doomed to extinction. Two hun
dred thousand of them. spread
from ocean to ocean and from border
and border, are marked by the hand
of progress. The keys have already
been turned in the doors of several
thousand. to be opened no more to
the purposes of education for the
country youths.
The half dozen families who sent
their children to the district school
each morning, who watched them
trudge down the country roads in all
kinds of weather, and who gathered
on Friday afternoons in the little
schoolroom to hear the speaking" "
have come to realize that what they
could not do by themselves they can
do IN cooperation with the families
of the next district and the surround
ing districts.
The one-room neighborhood school,
with one teacher, is passing away. In
it's place Is coming a new factor in
country life, a school six or eight
times as large, with three or four
teachers of training and ability; a
school prepared to bring to the coun-
try boy or girl an education that
promises to revolutionize the rural
development of America.
The country school has passed the
point where it constitutes a playroom
F1r h4 Iod &C.
work to be done on the farm. 1t has
taken on more Importance than as a
rendezvous for bobs1ed and hayrack
parties. box suppers and ice cream
festivals.
Education for the Farm
A remarkable movement Is under
way in the United States, almost IN
noticed by the general public and lit
tie appreciated by many of the farm
ing communities themselves. but
destined to play a most important
part in the education of the 100000
country children of school age, and OF
the generations that are to follow
them along the devious road of learn
ing.
Yesterday the country boy toiled
through Indifferent roads and across
plowed fields to the district school.
Today big carryall. full of rollicking
children and drawn by excellent
horses, rolls up to the farmhouse gate
each morning with the regularity of
the rural mail carrier.
The children pile in, the van moves
on to the next farmhouse and ac-
cumulates more children Through
the winding roads Of district, often
forty miles square, a half-dozen of
these big wagons, maintained at pub
lie expense, are bringing hundreds of
children every day to two-story
schoolhouse, such as the country
pupils of few years ago never
dreamed of. At night the wagons
roll back over the mornings route,
depositing children at their own door
steps.
The country is thus solving the
back to the farm" problem. It has
found the means to stop the great out
pouring of sturdy boys and girls to
the. city schools, where they have been
educated away from the country 4"
1t has succeeded in bringing into the
country, almost to the farmhouse
door. an education for the country
youth equal in its general features to
thai of the city school, and supple
mepted by vocational training for
permanent life on the farm. It is an
education for the farm, not for the
pilgrimage to the city.
New Consolidated School.
The new school is known for want of
better name as the consolidated
rural school" The name fails to de-
scribe this great new institution of
rurhl life. 1t is more than a consoli-
dation Of country schools. 1t is a
graded school, high school, a man
ual training school, agricultural
school, domestic science school. al
most miniature university.
1t Is an institution that is turning
out country pupils finished" as to
education, and fitted to do greater and
better work on the farm. 1t is a So
cial center about which the interests
Of an entire township are beginning
to revolve. 1t is model experimental
farm. dairy farm, forestry school,
a horticultural school. 1t is an insti-
tuition whose keynote Of education is
Educate the country youth for the
world; but give him at least an equal
education for the farm. Teach him
the interesting and important things
of farm life, and he will generally
choose the farm as his home"
In nearly 800 communities, chiefly
in Indiana, Massachusetts, Ohio. Flor
ida and North Dakota, the new
schools are besieged daily by the
scores of children tumbling from the
incoming carryalls. Several thousand
Of the little district schools, unable
to offer a reasonab BILE excuse for ex-
tstence in the face of the new com
petition. have yielded their preroga-
t1ves to the united institution. and
have been gathered under its spa,
ciOuS rOofa