Newark post., 1910-06-08
A PRECEDENT.

ment appropriated funds Tor the
maintenance OF colleges OF agIl-
culture and mechanic arts. Each
State now gets SSo.oCo to be used
for this purpose. the appropr a
tons having increased from time
to time as the idea gained in popu-
laritv. This was the basis of TIE
vocational education idea which
is but now maturing on SO large
scale. In this original plan the
States were required to furnish
sums equal to those provided by
the national Government. AS a
matter of fact they have voluntar-
| lily provided Sums that have
amounted to ten times those re-
quired by the law. and the work
has proven the most popular edu-
cation in the nation.
| In this way two links in voca-
tional education are assured. The
State university. supplemented by
the normal school. is provided for.
| Then the present bill provides for
tie agricultural or mechanical
high school. The third link is the
consolidated rural school. tie best
school in the nation to-day and
one that is developing rapidly in
many farming communities.
The consolidated rural school is
formed by bringing together a
number of small district schools
Five schools OF twenty pupils each
may be combined into one school
OF a hundred pupils, This centra
big school may be well built, we
equipped and graded. 1t may Re
supplied with three teachers OF
special training with the same
money that was required to EN-
ploy five inferior teachers. The
, Old system. where one teacher il
one-room schoolhouse heard e
: rccitations day is superseded b,
e the graded school, where tie tea
c cher has third as many.
/ This consolidation idea depend
e VI on one thing-haulng tie child
r rem to school. The greater size o
} tie district makes the distance to,
Y great for walking. and wagons ar
t maintained at the public expense
n These leave the outskirts OF til
district and gather the children a
5, they go, reversing at evening.
It works practically. There are Go
" successful consolidated rur;
It schools in k,e country to-day
G There are scores of them in Ind
o ana, Iowa. Minnesota. Massachr
e setts, Virginia. Georgia. They ar
1t a proven success. There are tc
o day i'll the United States ,3oo,oC
p isolated rural schools. OF thes,
l. ocC 900 might be consolidated int
e .'o,oCo larger schools.
,i As an example of the possIb l
Il. ties OF the right sort of farmin
II some experiments of tie Depar
le mcnt of Agriculture last year ma
y be cited. BOYS were set to wor
i. on an acre each Of corn farme
,e under direction in dozen State
re The average yield in these Stat,
at had been IS bushels to the acr
er The boys harvested 50 bushels /
r the acre, and one lad got Is2 BIT
II. shells off an acre which his faith,
re had farincd for twenty years. wit
,e never a return of more than z
j. bushels. Much of the cotton lar
it in the South yields light crops b,
te cause the soil has been exhauste
er bv lack of rotation OF crops.
as single year in SOY beans will do,
j. bic the weld Of the land. Thes
e. fundamental things will be taugl
p every boy, and i'll applying the
n he vii wax prosperous and Il
ld nation will benefit.
of disadvantages Of tccfnic
IL training have long been rccoPni
" ed throughout the country. RI
p Newark Technical High Schoc
a, for instance. has kept record
'n It's 5000 graduates. These me
e. got their training by attendn
ut night school while they worked
ne factories. In the beginning Il
OF so-styled skilled mechanic recei
OF ed $50 to SIS a week To-day Il
% figures show that the avcras
wage of the graduates OF Il
ct school 47 years old is 500 a wee
: S Such results as these are convin
he ing.
IL Willot II. HISS, Assistant Sc
es retarv of agriculture, has spe'
III many years in working out Il
n system now proposed. The b
III now on the verge OF passing is Il