Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1911-08-02
CITY SCHOOL VS.. COUNTY
Various Advantages And Disad-
vantages Enjoyed By Pupils
Of Respective Schools.
A VERY MARKED CONTRAST.
What The City Teacher And Pupil Have
To Enjoy Over And Above Those
OF The COunty-Harder
Lines OF Latter.
(Commnnicatedl

tiOn is still fresh in the minds of the
| people owing to the discussion called
forth by the increased levy asked for.
| crave space in your columns to say
few words by way of showing the
various advantages enjoyed respective
! ly by city and county pupils.
And first of all should be noted the
fact that we spend yearly something
/ over sic each to educate city child
| ren, whereas only a little over SlI
| is being spent on the county child.
This is occasioned by the greater
| facilities and greater comforts offered
to the city children, compared with
those enjoyed by country children, as
| seen in the larger, more commodious
and more comfortable school buildings,
more expensive methods of heating.
water rent, lighting, janitors' ser
vices, etc. Contrast these modern
conveniences and comforts with those
| of the country school.
The building is nearly always of the
most primitive kind, located in nine
cases out of ten in an unsightly place,
which no one would ever think of Sc
lecting for dwelling. Being single
room building, exposed on all sides to
the elements, it cannot be made more
than moderately comfortable at best
| but where it is fully exposed to the
| cold blasts of winter, the proper heat
ing of such building becomes very
| difficult, if not impossible. The cold
wind coming in through the windows
and siding causes the heat to drift
| 70 fha Iaazi1A of L.
| leaving the windward side at a freez-
| ing temperature. Even when this is
not the case, the ordinary stove will
not heat such a building evenly.
Placed in the middle of the room, it
has to be fired up in very cold wealth
er, to 80 degrees. more or less, in or
| der to heat the farther corners. In
such cases those sitting near the stove
are exposed to a dangerous heat, and
when they complain to the teacher
that they are burning up the win
dows are thrown up, thereby endang-
eripg the health of those sitting near
| them.
Up to within few years ago this
was the only way of heating and VEN
tlating the country school. But this
pIODlClli Ie1S DCCl nCdliN SOlNGu
for all time by what is known as the
convection heater, a small furnace
surrounded by a jacket lined with as
bestos. 1t is set in a corner of the
room out of the way. A cold air in
take from the outside lets into the
| jacket, causing the heat to mount up
and spread evenly over the whole
| room, while the foul air, being the
| heavier, drops to the floor and passes
| out through a register in the foot of
the chimney. The heating and. VEN
tilation are perfect, more perfect in
fact than any heating device that
has ever been invented. In a new
school house where one of these heat
ers was placed, the temperature does
not vary more than half degree in
any part of the room, except right
near the furnace. A test shows that
the fuel consumption is no greater
and, in some cases, even less than for
the ordinary stove. Considering its
many advantages, hope to see one of
these heaters placed in every rural
schoolhouse in the country. The diff
| ference in cost is of trifiing considera-
tion compared with the much greater
| comfort it brings to these schools, and
l cannot believe that any true friend
of the farmer and of his children will
| object on the score of cost, especially
in view of the fact, cited above, that
the expense of educating the country
child is bout SIS year less than that
| of the city child. The farmers child
is not yet getting his share of the
school tax, and we should endeavor, by
all the means at our disposal, to in
crease his comfort and schooling facili-
ties.
In this connection / should like to
| direct attention to another feature
which shows into how much harder
lines the lot of the country child and
the country teacher is cast as compared
with that of their city compeers. In
the first place the good sidewalks and
shorter distances make the access to
the city school, for both teacher and
| pupil, much more easy and pleasant
Then, too, when they arrive at their
school they find it already swept, dust
ed, heated and ventilated, and all they
have to do is to walk in few minutes
before O'Clock and begin their work.
After the morning session they can
easily go to their homes for a warm
luncheon. Not so with the country
teacher and pupil. They have to walk
long distances, frequently over muddy
roads and through snow and rain, and
in winter, especially, must get to their
school half hour before the opening
of the morning session, in order to
make their fire and put the room in a
proper condition for the work of the
day. Add to this that no janitor's fee
is allowed for the rural school and that
in many cases the teacher has to pay,
out Of her already too meagre salary,
certain pupils to get them to assist
her in the work of sweeping, dusting,
making fires and keeping the school
yard tidy. This should not be so, and
| hope to see the day when our Beard