Morris tribune., 1911-08-11
Consolidation of
Schools Made Easy.
BY c. r. Barns, Minnesota
University Farm.

!. !. !. !. \ i. !. !. + !. !. !. + + + = i"
The passage, by the Minnesota leg
islature, of the Holmberg bill to IA
cilitate and encourage the corsolida-
ton of district schools, should stimu-
late to active effort for consolidation,
not only the school boards, but all the
friends of education in the rural dis
tricts. For the aid offered by the new
law makes easily possible very great
improvement in the school advantages
Of every reasonably we'll populated
township in Minnesota. This aid
amounts to $3.50. $1,000 or $500, as
the school shall have two, three or
four departments. In many instances
it will make it easier for the districts
consolidated to maintain the superior
consolidated" school than to con-
tinue the several one-room schools
now maintained, even taking into &C.
count the cost of transporting chill.
dren to and from distant homes. But,
| even if the cost is somewhat greater
the ADVANTAGES of the new plan are so
great that the slight extra burden will
be cheerful]y borne.
| Consolidation is to give to the coun-
| try a system of graded schools equal
to those the lure of which has drawn
so many country youths to the city,
and induced so many parents to aban-
don the farm, that their children
might have better educational oppor-
tunities in the town. Indeed, the
| country graded school may easily, in
time, be rendered superior in attrac-
tiveness to the city school; through
| the inclusion of practical courses in
farming, gardening and Horticulture
| for which city schools have practical
| 'ly no facilities. In every state where
| consolidation has been fairly tried,
the advantages have been so easily
manifest that no instance is known in
| which there has been permanent re-
| turn to the regime of the little red
school house" Ohio, Indiana and the
new state of Oklahoma, especially
have made rapid advances in the III
| PRODUCTION of the new system. .
The bugbear of imagined great cost,
as compared with the present sys-
| tenn, is deprived Of it's terrors by in
vestigation. Mr.. Schulz, superintend-
ent of public instruction, estimates
the cost of maintaining a four-room
! consolidated school-witn household
| economy, manual training and ele-
TOW oIl
| binary graded school course, and with
four teachers-at $4,000 a year. I'm.
der the Holmberg law the state would
contribute S1,500 of this, in addition
to an apportionment, from the state
school fund, of S. for each pupil
| Suppose there are forty pupils to each
room, $50 in all, the total of state
aid would be $2,30O leaving the con-
solidated districts to raise only $1,700
by local taxation. If four districts
are included in the consolidation, the
average for each would be only $425;
if six districts, only S28333. How
many single-room schools are main.
! tanned for smaller sums?
| The advantages of school consolida-
ton will not be educational only. 1t
will stimulate the good roads move
ment, by the presentation of new ne
cessities. The roads must be kept in
condition for the swift movement of
school wagons. Real estate values
will advance. Many a city family,
eager to move to the country, but
hindered because of the lack of good
schools will find that objection van
ishing as the consolidation" idea
spreads Social conditions will be
improved. The consolidated school
will become the center of all sorts
of social and cooperative activities
Almost the only objections heard
come from two classes: (D Those
to whom everything old is sacred and
| who oppose consolidation because it
| is an Innovations and ~ parents who
say it will take some small children
| too far away from home The former
| belong TO the same order of beings
as those who opposed the railroad be.
cause it would interfere with stage
| coach traffic: the latter forget that
swift wagons and the telephone make
the maximum distance from the
| school, of the outermost homes in the
| consolidated district. practically less
than the average distance of the dis
| trict school today. They forget, also,
the vast saving in time and "trudg-
ing" to the multitude OF children, ef-
fected by free transportation to and
from their homes