The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-11-02
CONSOLIDATION OF
RURAL SCHOOLS
PRACTICAL
University Man Points Out
Various Phases of Move
ment in North Dakota

PHASES of the Consolidated School
Movement in North Dakota" was the
subject OF an address delivered at the
North Dakota Educational association
meeting IN Fargo today b. N. Z. Alb
bolt OF the state university. lie said:
TO attempt to present / nan ade-
quate manner all that Is suggested to
North Dakot educators by the topic
consolidation" would require an am.
oitlon and assurance equal to that of
a high school graduate striving to set
Tie all OF the great questions that
confront the race. through the me-
dunn OF a commencement grafton.
The general phases OF the movement
have been and will be so ably dis
cussed in he other papers on this
program and are so well known to
that l shall attempt to do will be to
add a thought or two on some special
phases of the problem that are in
volvcd in the adaptation of the plan
to condition 8 as they are here in
North Dakota. Even among educa-
tors. 1t would seem as though the
word Consolidated" were regarded
as some kind Of a shibboleth, or a
system Of educational magic by which
conditions are to be metamorphosed
in some mysterious way. We do not
always stop to think that any COM
bining Of the work of two or more
schools formerly separated ia CONSOLE
dation in effect. 1t is an elimination
Of the useless waste and duplication
involved in the operation Of every
little school Of ten pupils or less and
it is a fact. lamentable but true. that
over f~orty-seven per cent of the ru-
raj schools Of this state are of hat
size. In the maintenance ana opera
ton Of many Of these little schools
there is a vast mou of waste and
random effort. and II movement
that will eliminate at leas of this
waste is worthy of our on
%sideration. When two tstrial
plants ind that by comb. their
their product can be vastly increased
and their efficiency enhanced in ev-
cry way, they do not hesitate long in
bringing about the necessary combin-
alton. Why not look upon the prob
em Of education in vur rural COM
munities in the same sane and whole
some way?
Practical teachers do not need to be
told that the individual pupil-proit-
ing by the esprit de corps, the group
spirit aroused, is better off and will
learn more as a member Of a school
of twenty and in a class of reasonable
size than he will In the monotonous
hum-drum of a school Of ten. To the
practical, hard headed school direc-
tors who are not bounded about by
shells Of narrow prejudice. the gain
is equally apparent.
Plan is Practical.
Considering the progress already
made in the establishment Of con-
solidated schools in this state. it is
futile to contend that the plan is not
practical, for North Dakota. We are
confronted no longer. with . theory
but with an actual condition. There
are now over a. hundred, of such
schools in successful operation in the
state and some Of them have been
at work for owe ten years . Inquire
I nthese districts and you will find
that their patrons would not listen
to the proposition of going back. to
the old plan. The results in the way
Of increased educational advantages
and quickened social life in the COM
munity are so striking as tc convince
even the most skeptical.