The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1912-01-25
CONSOLIDATE
RURAL SCHOOLS
Interesting Article From the
Pen of a Prominent Ida
no County Teacher.

When a new territory is being
opened and settled one of the
first things considered by the
pioneers is what OF our childrenl
What of those who will be the
men and women of the future J"
School is established and advan-
tages offered the children to
obtain a knowledge of the ele-
mentary branches of learning.
Although the schools are not of
the best at first, which can be ex-
pected in a newly settled section,
they grow in number and increase
in efficiency as the land becomes
more thickly settled and it's re-
sources are developed. A village
springs up, and as it grows into "a
town the village school grows in
to a high school. Finally the
town becomes a city and perhaps
a college is established.
But what of the people Eyllg
in the rural districts many miles
from the city? Can they give
their children advantages such as
are within reach OF the children
living in the cities! In a newly
settled territory the fortunate
parents who can financially al
ford to do this are very few in
deed. Or, even then, can they
spare the help OF their young
folks from the labor of the farms.
F.w consider themselves in ; PSI
tion to be able to do this, then,
what of the children in the rural
districts, who have certainly as
great "a right to the advantages
OF education as those living in the
cities! In many of the older see
tions of the country the problem
has been satisfactorily solved by
establishing rural high schools. 1t
is to the consideration of that
step in rural educational advance
ment which has frequently led up
to the establishment of rural high
schools, namely the consolidation
of the elementary schools in rur-
al districts, that this space is
given.
In the city schools there is an
average of one teacher for every
grade, in many cases, where the
enrolment is exceptionally large
a teacher has only half grade
under her charge. compare this
with the rural school where pupils
of every degree of school age in
classes which are studying every
subject in the elementary curricul-
um are huddled together in one
room under the direction of one
teacher. The city teacher can
give her undivided attention to
the pupils of one grade, while the
teacher in the country has eight
times as many elements of this
kind to consider. 1t is impossible
in the latter case for each grade
to receive the attention properly
due it. Then, too, in the country
schools, the classes are small,
many of them containing only one
or two pupils the result of which
| fact is unavoidable lack of inter
est or indifference Oh the part of
the pupil. When the classes are
SO many and so small the pupil
must do a great deal of his work
without help from the teacher.
In an ideal school the time is
equally divided between study
period and recitation. Govern
ment Investigations found that in
a certain group of rural schools
in a middle western state 15 per.
cent (1061 hours of the pupils
time was spent in recitation while
IS per cent (5573 hours was
spent in study. This is typical OF
rural schools all over the country
While the elementary schools
in the cities have profited by the
introduction of every new depar
ture in educational lines whicl
has been proven by experimen
to be practical, (among these be
ing manual training, domestic
science and the kindergarten th'
country schools have made little
if any advancement The one
room elementary rural school i
generally conceded to be far be
hind the elementary schools o
the cities, and under the circum
stances this same very deplorabl
fact is unavoidable.
Consolidation has done ava,
with these and many other dis
advantages. To transport tn
1. pupils from the outlying section