Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-12-03

WV I est teacher on earth. He has
- an army Of 100000 common
NS4IEGla school children, and his COM
Ss@k-sssS mon school teachers number
more than 100000. His public school prop
erty is valued at more than 100, OvO, 900.
and he is spending upon such education
about $780, 0O,UO0O00 a year. He has
hundreds OF millions invested in academies
and colleges and in the neighboI hood of
100000 boys and girls are in yearly at
tendance upon them. These are big
figures, but they fail short OF showing
what isanow 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 American Brain.
Indeed. eur national brain is being
reused as never before. Every depart
ment Of the government is stimulating IT,
and the wires. are raching out from here
TO every man. woman and child in the
country. In this letter l want to show
something OF what is being done for the
people outside the cities. The bulk OF
our population is in the country. and one
of the greatest movements OF the time is
that for the improvement Of the country
school.
We all know Of the little frame school
house. There are several hundred thou
sand OF them in the United States. They
pepper the union. and in most cases each
is taught by one man or enc woman.
Some Of these school houses have Jess
than a dozen pupils. Kansas has more
than 1000 with an attendance Of ten or
less. Maine has more than 2oOo, schools
of one room each, and 200 Of these have
less than eight pupils. Michigan has 1900
schools OF ten students, and Nebraska has
1900 of the same character. In Hardin
county, Iowa, where the land Is worth
800 an aero and the farmers are COM
paratively rich, there are large number
of schools where the average attendance
is less than six. sixteen district schools
whose average attendance is only five.
The same conditions. prevail all over, the
country.r
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 dis
tances apart that many of the children
must be brought in carriages or wagons.
1t presupposes one large graded school
for every twenty or forty square miles.
The nearby children walk, and those who
live on the outskirts ride. The schools
organized have an attendance OF several
hundred, The pupils are given thor
ough 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 of graded school, With a grade,
for each year, and in this way the coun-
try boy or girl gets schooling which
compares well with that Of the best
schools OF our cities.
This consolidated school system is
slowly. working its way over the union.
1T is now in existence in thirty-two DIFF
ferent states and there are more than
1000 such schools in operation. 1t is esti-
mated that the number will eventually
be $1,000 and that two-thirds of the small
rural schools which now exist Will have
been done away with.
the bringing Of the children to school
in wagons has been found to be of great
success. The transports ton per pupil
costs but a few cents a day, and the eX-
pense is small IN comparison with the
advantage gained In Massachusetts,
where the system is in thorough opera
ton and covers the state, the amount
spent for transportation Is about 100000
a year. In Indiana Il IS only a little less,
and in Vermont 1t Is about $4,000. In
Florida the schools have been conson-
dated in thirty different counties, ana
the cost Of carrying the children to school
is $4,000 per school yeal.
Passing of the Log schOOIh Ouse.
This movement means the passing away
of the log school house, the I'D school
house and the little frame shack. II
means the erection OF big school build
ings, we'll ventilated and lighted, with
steam heat and all the comforts. have