Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-12-24
ATTENTION FOR
RURAL SCHOOL
Education In Country Dis
tricts Being Cared for.

There are signs that the rural
schools are at last coming into their
own. Long the neglected factor in
American education, they are now
in progress of a regeneration that
is as thoroughgoing as 1t Is neces-
sary.
1t is not merely that educators
have turned their attention to the
problem; it Is lot merely hat much
is currently written on the subject
(~one-fourth of the bulletins pub
lished in 1912 by the United States
Bureau of Education deal directly
with rural education) it is rather
that theory has given place to prac-
tice. that the work of rural educa-
ton is actually under way.
Teachers of experience armed
with the essential facts of rural life,
acquainted with the needs Of the
communities they serve, sincere in
their faith in the country as the
place to live in and build up citf-
zenship, are doing for the rural dis
stricts what the pioneer teachers OF
former generations did for the city
and the town.
These rural teachers are actually
accomplishing the work that has so
long been memerly talked about.
Old one,room, ramshackle school
houses are torn down to make way
for attractive little buildings, not
necessarily larger than the old, but
built on sound principles Of beauty
and utility; or, frequently, the
place OF the discarded building has
been taken by the more imposing
structure of the consolidated school,
symbol Of educational efficiency.
Even the literature on rural edu-
cation shows the effects Of the prac-
teal application of what were form
, erly only theories. Current bulle-
! tins of the Buerau OF Education de-
| scribe the training Of rural school
teachers, not as something that
might be done, but as something
that has ben done and is done every
day. IT Is no longer the problem
of knowing what ought to be done,
but of doing 1.-THE problem Of dis
%seminating the knowledge that is
already available.
The realization Of the significance
! Of rural education marks a turning
point in American history. For the
better part of a century American
| education developed one-sidedly-
| as a city and town matter. To live
in the country was to be Isolated
] from the better things OF civiliza-
| tion-including education. That
the population Of the United States
was and Is predominately rural did
not seem to enter the question.
There was a feeling that the coun-
try could take care OF itself; that
| the "Iittle red school house" could
! accomplish everything with moth
ing; that there was an inehaustible
supply of country school-teachers
willing to do ~janitor chores and per-
form the numerous other duties of
the old-time schoolmaster, all for a
few dollars per week, with utter dis
regard of the increased cost of liv-
ing.
The awakening from this state of
hlissful Indifference toward country
life and country education did not
come until the drift from country to
city had become one of the start
ling phenomena OF the age. Then
economists exhorted boys to stay
on the farm; but he exhortation
came too late. What boy was going
TO stay on the farm when opportun-
itv seemed to be everywhere else?
There were no adequate educational
facilities for him In the country;
nothing to guide him in his desire
to get along in the world: so he
went to Join the throng and help
diminish the producing power of the
fundamental class in society-the
agricuIturists.
Rural education can not immed-
lately and entirely reverse this pro-
cess, but il is the first essential step.
Better rural schools VIII not only
tend to euualize the advantages or
city and country in educational on
p%ortunity; they will meet the great
est economic need of our time by in
creasing the Efficiency OF the coming
generation as producers on the land.
link at the fspripea of thippsp az