Newark post., 1911-05-17
DELAWARE'S RURAL
SCHOOL QUESTION
n''tord Chronicle Makes Suggestion
Concerning The Prohiem

% new country life that faces us
To-Day. Condition for living improved
at an almost marve Gus rate No. .,,a
farmer, instead OF spending time hunt.
ing helpers and arranging for an in
terchange OF work with his neiphbors
uses telephone to send to the near-hV
own or cal up the distant points for
supplies needed at once. No LONGER ;s
ne content to receive his mail on SAT-
uFuay' 0ut now his letters. his dailv
papeI, WIN marker quotations are
olousut 10 MS door every day. He is
no .ohser satisfied with the week-old
II'i'lgS which have lost their value.
livery ming re alive to the farm life and
tie Iarin mas been improved Agricul-
tura, experts are sowing problems re-
| ldted 10 the tarm and the agricultural,
| experiment stations with their valuable
| suggestions are making the prob EN-
OF farming not alone interesting. but
| vastly more profitable, and it is the
| ooy ana the girl OF today who must be
| lltted by training and opportunity to
take up this .everincreasing prob EN-
| Everything relative to the larm and
farm lite has been improved in the
past few years, and the up-ro- date far
mer takes advantage of all this be-
cause it pays to do so. But there is a
deep underlying prob EN- for the farm
ers of Delaware TO solve, would thew
maintain the ground gained, or 90 for
ward in the march OF progress? We
ask you to give serious consideration
to this question. Have Our country
! schools kept pace with this marve OTIS
march forward? All benefits of which
the farmer has taken advantage have
tended to make better his financial
standing and interest. his social stand
ing and interests. The great question
this is this: Would it not pay as an
investment to bring the schools up to
the same high standard of efficiency
that is being enjoyed by the modern
up-to-date farm? Is it not absolutely
necessary that the farmers children be
educated in harmony with these many
interests and improvements? Is it not
necessary to his future standing. hnar-
clally and socially, to keep up with
modern advancement at school as we
as at home2
The proper education of the 'arn,
boys and girls cannon be neglected
without hna ly bringing ruin upon the
farming communities If these ad
vautages are not provided they vii
drift away into other callings, and the
farming districts will lost the ambi
tious and therefore the best cass o.
The growing popula ion. If the right
kind OF schoos are provided for the
country boys and girls they will renair
at home until they receive their gen
! eral education, and then if they have
gifts in other directions it will be time
enough for them to seek specia
schools The O. d-time country school
as many OF us remember it, has gone
never to return. The large attendance
the male teacher in the winter, TIL
5 pupils ranging from SIX to twenty-nln
years are no longer i'll evidence II
n its pace is the small school, and toe
often the cd time good teacher" ha
Il gone to the larger towns or the city
The ambitious" scholar has alas toe
often followed him, and in alter lif
2 taken his family with him. Says th
Illinois School Register: ''Thinkin,
men have long since discovered tha
t. If this emigration to the cities AM
+ towns for higher educational advan
!. tages is to contirue, the country a
: we'll as its schools will be sapped of it
L vitality, and this thoughr has take1
form in the expression that ''the Coun
try child is entitled to as good educa
tional privi eyes as the city child: an
this too without breaking up the fam
!, ily home. and that ANYTHING short o
v this is TN air to the child and unproft
able to the community" How sha
this progress o fthe country school b
y brought about? We believe that b
conso' idaton of the country school
OF every state where it has been give
h a tria. and even those who at first op
posed IT, are now its most ardent sup
oorters. The advantages Of schcc
consolidation may be summed up brle!
" TO mean better education for til
children under home conditions and a
:. no grea"er financial cost after the frs
I. establishing expenditures are mad'
The farms will have more inteliger
T farmers on them, and the entire CON
munity wi be enriched morally, mer
r tally and financially Then ii throug
4 consolidation these rural schools ca
be brought to an attendance of sa
l. thirty five in each department. til
r number of teachers would be lessene
4. bv fulv ne-ha'f the number now re
o1ired to teach the rural schools,
majority of which now have l-ss tha
> fifteen children in average attendanc
r The bettermenr Of our schools is
!. real financial question Tor farmers t
r consider, and one which can btli
r large returns financially 10 them. r'n
n it over. Act accordingly at the nr'