Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-07-07
FAULTS IN SCHOOLS|VA[LEY Of VIRGINIA
De1ec's ro'eu ou' ~ no Van Meter Hack Is Again In
portsto NE. A. Council ired in Motor Accident.
mENAClNG ~ PhoGRtSS FEET CUT OFF; CHILD DIES
Little heo 'cno0hoase ~ Shirley Rosenberger Fatally Hurt by
Oh It's Attae''ehess Moving Machine.
EDUCATORS SEEKING REMEDY cpowns ATTEND HORSE suow
neglect country ena
Fiea TOT i~ooo'ooo 1uPn
hish SCHOOLS or''c'seo
Defects Pointed Out in Re-
ports-to ~. e. A. Council.
MENACING TO PROGRESS
Little Red Schoolhouse" Divested
of It's Attractiveness.
EDUCATORS SEEKING REMEDY
Neglect of Country Child Deplored.
Plea for $4,000. 900 Pupils.
High Schools Criticised.

CHICAGO. July s.-The little red school
house is so 'unattractive' that more
than two-thi-ds of the 12oo0.oO pupils
in the rural public schools fail to reach
q high standard in their studies.
That condition is described as a menace
TO educational progress and as one Of the
reasons why the country child looks long
fngly toward the city. in report sub
mitted before the national council of
education today. The council met pre-
liminary TO the opening here Monday
of the fiftieth annual convention of the
National Educational Association.
The conditions surrounding the tradi-
tional little red schooihouse' were de-
scribed as so deplorable that the council
considered a plan to have the national
association employ an expert to investi-
gate and report rural districts
Neglect OF Country Child.
E. r, Fairchild. state superintendent
of public instruction, Topeka. Kan, and
James Y. Joyner, Raleigh, n. c., declared
that 1.-THE country child is the neglected
child, and the country schoolhouse
neglected schoolhouse'' They said the
Importance of rural education was shown
in the fact that of the IO.0Oo,OoO school
children in the United States 12,OoO,Ooo
attended country schools, yet less than
one-third of the rural pupils We're able
to meet their grades
There must be revival of interest
in the country school IL the educa ton OF
the country is to progress. said Mr.. Joy
ner. I'VE must cease centering all our
attention on the city school. There must
be aroused in the schoolhouse in the
desert, on the mountain or on the farm
a love of rural life and not hatred of
r7rra and hap
will be deserted; make them attractive
and comfortable, and education will flour
ish.''
The teaching of scientific farming and
fruit growing with special reference to
local conditions, were recommended as
an incentive to renewed interest in rural
education.
Arizona Solves Problems.
A. j. Matthews. president of the State
Normal School. Tempe. Ariz., sad he be-
Eeved Arizona had solved the rural school
problem by law which allows any rural
school with eight pupils or more to draw
on the state for $1,000 annually. He said
the state provided S1.0O0.000 for educa-
ton. and adequate payment for good
teachers was one means of attaining sue
cess.
TOO many pupils are being turned out
OF the public schools without any knowl-
edge of how they are going to make
living was the substance of a report
submitted by ]. A. Shawan, superintend-
ent of schools at Columbus, Ohio, on
THE Educational Progress of the Year"
Criticism of High Schools.
High school education throughout the
United States was branded as generally
bookish. scholastic, abstract and made
duate to meet the practical problems of
life in a report submitted to the national
council. The report, based on investiga-
lions conducted in twenty-five states
declared that the system of high school
teaching is just where 1t was thirty years
ago. and that this backwardness is due
to the plan Of high schools to prepare
pupils for colleges and universities
rather than for life
The whole trouble with our high school
education" declared David Felmley,
president of the State Normal School at
Normal ILL.,, In reading the report lis
that 1t is regarded too much as merely
q preparation for the university. In
stead of dealing with the problems of
life today the students are taught to
deal with the language. politics and
customs of fifteen centuries ago. Nearly
all the high school teachers are college
graduates who have no adequate knowi-
edge of affairs outside of colleges. Their
teaching is. there, bookish scholastic
and abstract.
Says Change Is Needed.
We need a change of aim in high
school teaching. a look in the direction
of the farm. shop and home. While we
do not recommend an education entirely
vocational, We urge a departure from the
college idea"
We also think more attention should
be given 10 the training of teachers from
among high school pupils, concluded
Mr. Felmley. The conclusion that more
progressive methods should prevail in
high schools was based on inquiries
among 40 normal institutions, all of
which represented that high school pupils
who wanted to teach usually had not
been adequately prepared for their work
AS a means of undertaking high
schools the report recommended that in
four-year course two years of voca-
tional study should be provided.