Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-10-20

ably another phase of the great con-
servation problem which should receive
much attention. 1t would be interesting
to have similar report from our own
state, but feel safe in asserting that
it spends its money III very much the
same way-to educate consumers rather
than producers of wealth
Is this business wisdom on the part
OF the state? Or, would it not be bet
fer for it to furnish our rural districts
with teachers that will subscrvc the
community interests to better advantage;
At the present time 1t is very l'Deral
| with its expenditures i'll behalf OF those
who aim at college or university tram
ing. If we take this as cold bust
ness proposition it seems that the mon
ev is not used to best advantage because
if benefits the favored few and very
small Der cent at that, while the great
mass of the people do not receive the
! training they most need. The work
done in our rural schools is very little
better, if any, than !, was twenty-five
years ago, unless it be that It covers
more ground. 1t is probably more cx-
tensvc at the expense OF the intensive
in education Like the farmer, We try
to cover more acres, but the yield pr
acre is diminishing every year: what
| is the reason? The farmer does not
understand the proper soil and crop con-
di,iuus: nor does the teacher undcrstand
| the conditions Of education that VIII
bring the school life and the home lie
together. The school does in no way
| picture and represent the community IN
tcrc,,s Of its surroundings. Its work IS
entirely apart from the life around 1t,
and the result is that our boys and
Urls tire of this kind of school work
and drop out at the first opportunity.
This is the situation, and the great
discrepancy comes from the great lack
of properly trained teachers who under
stand and appreciate the needs OF the
rural schools and the rural commune
ties. We therefor turn to the state
with the argument that as business
DrOposition it must educate tor rural
citizenship as well as for the urban;
and that the rural schools must receive
first consideration in order to prepare
men and women as a producing class
rather than as a consuming class. Whc1l
the state will recognize the specific
needs of the rural schools and tram
teachers accordingly. it need not worry
much about the other institutions
As stated before, the rural schools
must draw upon the high schools tor
their teachers. Many of these teachers
NAV be born and raised III the city,
and know nothing about rural condl-
lions Thev have studied their gcom-
ctry Cicero and Virgil, but know moth
ing about farm life and care less. When
these are sent out to teach, what can
YOU expect? There were introduced IN
il1e last two sessions of the legislature
bills for special aid to rural schools
meeting certain reasonable requirements
as to equipment, length OF term, etc,
and we worked earnestly to engineer
these measures through, but they. ta'led:
If we look upon this i'll the light OF
present day North Dakota conditions,
possibly we would conclude that our
legislators were not far wrong after
all. Were we not trying to hitch the
animal the wrong way? Suppose this
measure had been enacted into law, and
certain rural schools had met the re-
quircments in every detail and then were
unable to find the most essential factor
the properly trained teacher ne
state of North Dakota would not have
fulfilled its part Of the contract with
those districts, and the results would
have been discouraging, to say the least.
No, let the state begin at the bottom
of the ladder and prepare teachers that
NAV 90 into the schools on Our prairies
with the kind of gospel the conditions
on those prairies demand.
How Should the State Spend this
Money? In order to answer this It
might be well to gather some lntorina..
ton from some other states. | shall
mention New York and Minnesota in
particular.
The state of New York has on its
statute books provision granting al
special aid of $500 to academies ana
union free schools which maintain de.
partmcnts for the training OF rural
teachers. The commissioner or educa-
ton designates the schools IN when
instruction in the science and practice
of common school teaching shall be CIV
en-. distributing them equitably through
out the various parts Of the state. he
schools shall given instruction to classes
of not less than ten nor more than
twenty-five scholars for not less than
thirtv-six weeks. The commissioner
prcscribes the conditions of admission
to the classes, the course of instruction
and the rules and regulations govern
ing this work. Such school must have
room or apartment separate from all
other departments Of the school, IN
which the training class members may