The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-02-11
THE RURAL SCHOOLS.

running directly counter 10 the i
growing 'back-to-the-soi movement,
rural school teachers are an actual /
force in the depopulation Of tile coun- /
try districts. They set the faces Of [
country boys and girls toward the
city, and by idealizing city life they
induce a movement toward the CEN
tiers OF population that often depriyesl
the country village of it's best citi,
zens. This declaration is made by DR..
Fred Mutchler and w. J. Craig, two
members of the faculty OF the West |
gern Kentucky State Normal school, i'll
ia monograph which the United States
bureau of education has just publish.
led for free distribution.
The tendency of the rural school to
encourage emigration TO the city, &C
cording to- the government pubiica.l
ton in question, is in consequence OF
the fact that the course of study in
most rural schools is merely. a copy
of that given to city school children,
without reference to the different en-
vironment and local needs of the
country child. AS a result of giving the
country child an education modelled on
city lines, the authors declare that
teachers everywhere, with rare ex.
ceptions,. have idealized city life, and
have been potent factors
in inducing young men and women to-
leave the farm and move into the
city. This movement often carries
some Of the best blood and brain Of
the community into the city, often to
be lost, wasted, or destroyed; certain
| ly to be lost from the rural communi-
ity." 1t is possible and right, indeed a
duty. to dignity rural life and to save
| it and its interests the best blood OF
| the country.
! Regret is expressed that the rural
school has not the influence that 1t
should have. One of the chief reasons
assigned for this is the fact that the
course of study is ill-adapted to rural
life in all its relations. The monograph
says on this point:
I'VE are united in believing that
Ia school should train its pupils for
life and its WORK while these pupils
are living and working The course
iof study taught in the rural school
today is entirely too much like the
course that is taught in the city
school; in fact it has been modelled to
! fit the needs of the latter without
consulting enough the ends that are
| to be attained in the former"
4 AS an indication of the cash value
of course of study, specialized to the
needs of the rural community and
/ taught by trained normal graduates.
the monograph says:
/ ..Canada's rural schools increased
THE average wheat yield there five
bushels to the acre in a few years
! time. Suppose that our rural school
teachers should set for themselves
the problem OF increasing the corn
Icrop five bushels per acre. what
i would be the result? Let US see: In
1910 the farmers of Kentucky planted
and cultivated 3,630.000 acres of
corn, which yielded 105,210.000 bush
els. An increase of five bushels per
Iacre would have made the yield
u.s. 1000 bushels more. These 1S,500,-
1000 bushels of corn would have
brought, at the average farm price
December l, 1910, approximately slo,-
100000
7 This money would have gone di-
, rectly to the rural communities,
!, where it is much needed, and would
have been of vast Importance in solv-
ing the problems that confront oul
rural people 1t could have been used
to build 1000 miles of first-class pike
roads, or it would have paid the ex
penses of our public schools for two
: and half years. 1t would have gone
/ far toward paying the farmers taxes
. or it would have built and furnished
r many a rural home. Can any one fig
:. ure the comfort and happiness tina
a five bushels more of corn per acre
!, would buy for the rural people of an,
= state?
What the rural schools can do TO
> improving corn culture they can d.
/ for any other farm crop, if they adop
4, a rational course of study and demand
1t teachers who can teach them effect
e lively and efficiently Fortunately prae
e ,tical principles of agriculture ar
n neither difficult to learn nor irhsom
q to teach The subject appeals to rura
II pupils because it comes within th
Z. scope of their immediate interests.
/, Rural lie Gan Us NOuuSiluliy ia
:, proved by the united efforts of teacf
ers to promote real, genuine, uplif
3 ing thrift through instruction in til
= principles and practices of agricu
70 ture. To teach these principles tn
lg teacher must have had a thoroug
at preparation in this special field.
Rural interests and rural problem
are not like the city's interests an
it's problems, and educators ever
nj where, especially in the south, al
IL. coming more and more to believe thu
ne the course of study adapted to secu
- ing the most efficient rural life
81 re- Ideally different from any 9th,
nt course of study. The elemental
er school must if it fulfills its hie
We purpose, minister to the needs of II
mt community in which it resides
M do this a course of study coordinate
CT with rural life is needed, togeth
mt with a corps of teachers trained
AFT put into operation the work that Il
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