The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-12-05

tCOpyr1ght. 1911, by Frank G. Car
penter.)
WASHINGTON, D. c., 1911.
Uncle Sam. patriarch, is the great
est teacher On earth. He has an
army of 100000 common school
children. and his common school
teachers number more than 100000.
His public school property is valued
at more than a billion dollars, and
he is spending upon such education
about four hundred millions a year.
He has hundreds of millions invested
in academies and colleges and in the
neighborhood Of a half million boys
and girls are in yearly attendance
upon them. These are big figures, III
they fall short of showing what is now
going on. Uncle sam has been lying
awake at nights studying how to
bring education to all his children,
and his plans include the grown-ups
as we'll as the babies.
Waking Up the Great American
Brain.
Indeed, our national brain is being
reused as never before. Every depart
ment OF the Government is stimufat-
ing it, and the wires are reaching out
from here to every man, woman and
child in the country. In this letter
I want to show something Of what is
being done for the people outside the
cities. The bulk of our population
AS AI liz dhu JIG "a ~
greatest movements of the time is that
for the improvement Of the country
school.
We all know Of the little frame
schoolhouse. There are several hun-
dred thousand of them in the United
States. They epper the Union, n
in most cases each is taught by one
man or one oma Some of these
schoolhouses have less than q dozen
pupils. Kansas has more than six
teen hundred with an attendance of
ten Or less. Maine has more than
two thousand schools Of one room
each, and two hundred Of these have
less than eight pupils. Michigan has
fifteen hundred schools of ten stu
dents, and Nebraska has twelve nun
dred of the same character. In Har-
din county, Iowa, where the land is
worth a undred dollars an acre
and the farmers are comparatively
rich. there are a large number OF
schools where the average attendance
is less thar six, and in Olnastead
county. Mimi, there are sixteen dis
trict schools whose average at
tendance is only five. The same con-
ditions prevail all over the
Going to School in Wagons.
The advanced movement provides
for the wiping out of these little
schools and the organizing Of large
ones at such distances apart that
iHdIy OIL Inc cIl u NC o0SAA~
in carriages or wagons. 1t presup-
poses one large graded school tor
every twenty or forty square miles.
The nearby children walk, and those
who live on the outskirts ride. me
schools organized have an ttendance
of several hundred. The pupils are
given q thorough education and the
child starts in at the kindergarten
and comes out at the high school.
In some schools the high school Is
omitted. but there are eight years Oh
a graded school, with a grace Tor
each year, and in this way the eouI-
try boy or girl gets a schooling Wnlc1
well with that of the best
schools Of our cities.
This consolidated school system IS
slowly working it's way over the
Union. It is now IN existence IN
thirty-two different States, and there
are more than two thousand sucn
schools in operation. 1t is estimated
that the number will eventually be
thirty thousand and that tWo-tn1foS
of the small rural schools which no"
exist will have been done away With:
The bringing the children to schooI
in wagons has been found 70 ne o.
great success. The transportation per
pupil costs but a few cents q day,a anu
the expense is small in
with the advantage gained. In Mas
sachusetts, where the system ls1A
thorough operation and covers the
State, the amount spent for transpor-
tation is about 100000 a year In
Indiana it is only a little, less, and III
Vermont it is about $4,000. In FLOR
ida the schools nave been consol-
dated in thirty different counties, anu
the cost of carrying The children to
school is $4,000 per school year.
The Passing Of the Log Schoofhouse
This movement means the passing
away of the log schoofhouse, the sod
schoolhouse and the little frame
shack. It means the erection OF Dig
school buildings, well ventilated ana
lighted, with steam heat and all the