Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-17

the girls of the nation the art of homo
making and the care of children.
In the drift toward this new education
the most striking example of progress is
to be found in that most successful of
the schools that have developed in the
present generation. the consolidated rural
school. This school is formed by bring
ing together a number of the small dis
,rct schools which have for generations
furnished the only educational opportuni-
ties afforded in country districts. Five
schools of twenty pupils each. for in
stance, may be combined into one school
of hundred pupils. This central big
school may be well built. we'll equipped
and we'll graded IT may be supplied
with three teachers of special training
with the same money that was required
to employ the five inferior teachers The
old system with ono teacher in a one
room schooihoIse. with thirty recitatons
to hear every day. is superseded by a
graded school where the teacher has bat
a third as many classes.
The consolidated idea depends upon one
thing-hauliuc the children to school.
The greater SIZE o. the district makes
the distance too great for walking and
wagons are maintained al the public
perse These leave the outskirts of the
district and gather the children as they
go. reversing the process in the evening.
The scheme works practically. There are
tin successful consolidated rural schools
in the cot1ntrv today. There arc scores
Of them in Indiana. Iowa. Minnesota,
Ma sachuSetts. Virginia and Georgia.
They are a proven success. There are to-
day i'm the United States 3OO.0OO isolated
rural schools. OF these c10,H0 might he
readily consolidated into 10000 larger
schools much to the benefit of the entire
system
Il
These consolidated schools offer the pos
sibility for farm demonstration work
among the boys who Immediately return
to their farm homes and put what they
learn into practice. Their courses usu-
ally include farm economics. cooking and
home making. courses for the girls that
ht into the known conditions surrounding
them.
ing together a hundred children in one
school rather than twenty N each of five
schools is most advantageous. The
sphere of the country child is thus broad
ened and the disadvantage of isolation is
correspondence lessened-
Another of the strong tendencies in the
public schools throughout the land is the
drift toward a more thorough supervisor
of those conditions that nave to do with
the health of children. In this connection,
also enters the subject of instruction in
hygiene which is intended to bring home
TO every child an understanding OF the
necessity Of knowing Just no" TO Keep
his body healthy and efficient
The beginning of this idea of looking
into the physical condition of the children
in the public schools led to some start
lincs disclosures. In Cleveland. for in
stance, was formed the Cleveland Dental
Society which advocated an inquiry INTO
and a treatment of pupils having defec-
tive teeth. This society. after some years
of endeavor. succeeded in getting the in
PRODUCTION of instruction as to the care
of the teeth.
Still further efforts led to an inspection
of the teeth of children III certain OF the
schools In the MURRAY Hill School SOL
children were examined and So were
found to have defective teeth. III me
Doan school OF Sg1 pupils examined. 81
had defective teeth. In the Marvin
school sl1 out of s:4 were found de-
fective These were the percentages that
were found to exist generally Deiec-
tive teeth are known TO aHect general