Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-08-21

Ties are OF the poorest And Wnsn | say
the rOral school conditions should be i'm
proved, I mean in a sanitary as well as in
an educational way. mean that the school
building themselves should be as scrupu-
tously clean tina teachers are capable
of accomplishing the tasks before them.
But I do not want It thought that by
that l have no regard for the city schools
and colleges. l have as high Ideas for
their development for the rural schools.
In cities such as New York and Chicago,
where wealth abounds and where the high
est level Of education and culture has been
reached, the school problem Is less diff
cult and the situation more able to look
out for itself. There the people are grouped
SO closely together that the welfare of the
educational system is part OF their daily
endeayor. while in the rural districts,
where the population is so widely scat
tered, the school house holds a far differ
ent and perhaps even more important posi-
ton"
And by education Dr. Ciaxton means that
which tends toward making practical men
and women, men who are capable of going
out into the world and carving their own
way, and women who are equipped to be
competent wives and mothers. What tends
toward culture is at the same time what
! tends toward the practical
"A man cannot have two separate parts
one cultured, the other practical. l 90
| not believe that the two are distinct, but
| that culture lies in the highest possible
| practicability Culture 10 not apart from
life, and life should mean the ability 10
! cope with the daily happenings which oc-
cur, Just life and education should be
so closely interviewer as to be a whole
and indiscernible in their separate parts. -
| One Of the plans which DR.. Claxton hopes
! to carry out and one which will be also
the fulflllment OF DIR. Browns idea as well,
| will be the development of a corps of effi-
Gent specialists who will be authorities on
their respective subjects In this way DR..
Claxton expects to gather around him men
who will be equipped with fun knowledge
of sanitation for rural schools agricultural
| education and other subjects of which there
is need
| II DIR. Claxton seems to have a greater
regard for the development of the rural
than OF the city school the reason for it
! Is not far to seek, for it was in pioneer
! section Of Tennessee, in a school house of
most primitive design and equipment that
he received the foundation of the educa-
! ton which today has placed him at the
head Of the governments educational
force. And Of the conditions surrounding
the rural school he knows not only the
weak, but the strong points.
| "A little log hut" is the way he de-
scribes that building wherein he learned
his first lessons. zone room, with a
Ipuncheon floor not nailed down, without
ceiling or glass windows and without the
cracks even being stopped up The furni-
ture it seems was as crude as the building.
and consisted of nothing more pretentious
than benches made of split logs with no
BACKS. q. And under such conditions during
i the reconstruction period of the south DIR.
Claxton received his early education
| However meager may have been DR..
ClaXtons early education. that which he
secured later made up for it, Born in
Bedford county, Tennessee, in 1862, DIR.
Claxton began his education as already told
and then entered the University of Tennes-
see. That he was far from being even an
average scholar is shown from the fact
that he received the b. A. degree at the
age of 90, and five years later he was
awarded NJ. A. degree. For two years
during 1SsI-S5, he was student at Johns
| Hopkins university, from which he went
abroad and attended the educational
schools of Germany for the same length OF
time.
When but 81 he was made a school super.
intendent at Kinston, N. c., in which ca,
pacity he served for two years prior to his
becoming a student at Johns Hopkins uni
versity. He also filled like position a
the end Of that course in Wilson, n. c.
for more than two years, and then becam,
superintendent Of the Asheville IN. c.
} schools, in which position he remained
five years. In 1893, at the termination o
, his term of office as superintendent a
: Asheville, he became professor of peda
gogy and German. and then professor ant
2 director of the Practice and Observation
school Of the State Normal and industrial
E college of North Carolina, which position
g he held until 1902. At that time he becam
professor of education, and was made
e professor Of secondary education and in
, spector Of high schools of the University O
y Tennessee in 1906.
But that does not represent the only fIel
4 Of DIR. Claxton's endeavor during thos
years. From 1897 to 1901 he was the edito
2 Of the North Carolina Journal OF Educa
ton and. following that, OF the Atlanti
Educational Journal. He was a member o
the southern education board, being chic
g Of the bureau of investigation and inforrna
ton during 1929, He has also held tn
position of superintendent OF the summe
school Of the south since 1892.