The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1912-03-03
Rural School Social Centers.


] lem confronting the farmer is how
. to keep young people on the farm.
The lure OF the city is felt even
in the remotest rural communities.
All young people are pleasure-loying
They demand recreation, and ii OPP
!, portunities for social enjoyment do
not present themselves in their own
community, they are bound to seek
them afar.
i The opportunity for helpful rec
feation and enjoyment presents it
self in the new School Social Center
| movement.
In by-gone days. the rural schools
provided entertainment for the com
munity in the form of spelling
| bees singing schools" etc. Grad
/ ually these reereations died out, and
there sprang up 'lyceums" and lit
erary societies." both OF which were
helpful and inspiring to the young,
even though the oratory was crude,
aud the knowledge OF subjects I'M
der discussion limited
| Today the lyceum is thing of the
past, and the country school-house
stands desolate and deserted. during
the long winter evenings. and
through the long months of vacation.
l nh oh he Tfv
the most careful and judicious
training in the public schools. This,
| however, is far from being the rule.
In many cases the teachers them
selves lack of training, and the
| equipment is of the poorest kind.
Every rural school should be pro-
vided with good library for the
benefit Of both the school and the
community.
The acquisition Of knowledge
| from books is necessary, but this
book-knowledge does not in itself
constitute an education. far from it.
We need an educational system
which fits a boy or girl to earn
living; creates a desire for more
knowledge; makes civic duty plain,
and teaches him or her the funda
mental principles of universal
brotherhood.
At present very large per cent
of the business and professional
men, including statesmen, especially
through the South and West are men
who were reared on the farm, or
came from the workshops of towns
and villages The indications are
that a very large per cent of the
, leaders OF the future will come from
J the same sources. Therefore 1t is
necessary that the children in the
, rural schools should receive better
training than is being given them
, now.
, Many OF the ablest men of today
, have been hampered by lack of early
training, and nothing can take the
place Of this lost training. III the
state wants its citizens to be success
ful, prosperous, and happy in the
future, 1t must no longer neglect
the early training of those who are
to bring about the conditions which
will accomplish the desrede results
Our best teachers should be sent to
The rural schools; earnest, progress
sive men and women, capable OF in
= Producing into the work qualities
which will arouse the young peoples
: enthusiasm and set them thinking
! and investigating along new lines OF
! endeavor.
> The country presents ideal condi-
tons for the study OF nature, and
yet how many children are taught
the real fundamental facts of ma
ture, unfolding themselves all about
them?? The perennial miracle OF
plant life is so common, and so con-
stantly before them, that they fail
% see or take note of 1t. An intel
ligent presentation of this wonder
full fact of resurrected life will
arouse in the minds of the children
new lines Of thought, and send them
) forth with eager feet, to make new
discoveries.
The attention of the children
should be directed to the wise pro-
vision made by trees and hardy
plants for the coming Of winter, as,
at the first hint of the changing
season, they begin to store up car
bon, Withdrawing from the leaves
= what the tree needs for its support
during the winters cold, and, by
y the withdrawal Of the sap, harden
Y ing and protecting the limbs and
branches.
e. Such study naturally leads to the