Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-02-19
SUGGESTS
CHANGES IN
TEACHING
RURAL SCHOOLS, UNDER PRESENT
SYSTEM, HAVE TENDENCY TO
DRIVE COUNTRY BOYS INTO
THE CITY.

ment, rural school teachers are an
actual force in the depopulation Of
the country districts. They set the
faces of country boys and girls to-
ward the city, and by idealizing city
life they induce a movement toward
the centers of population that often
deprives the country village Of it's
best citizens. This declaration is
made by DR.. Fred Mutchler and w.
j. Craig, two members Of the faculty
Of the Western Kentucky State Nor
NAL school, in a monograph which
the United States Bureau Of Educa-
ton has Just published for free dis
tribution.
The tendency Of the rural school
to encourage emigration to the city,
says the government publication, 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 refer
ence to the different environment 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 exceptions,
have idealized city life, and unwit-
tingly have been potent factors in in
ducing 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; cer-
tainly to be lost from the rural COM
munity. 1t is possible and right, in
deed a duty, to dignity rural life and
to save to it and its interests the best
blood OF the country.
"The rural school has not the in
fuence that it should have, One of
the chief reasons lies in the fact that
the course of study is ill-adapted to
rural life in all its relations.
1--WE are united in believing that q
school should train its pupils for life
and its work while these pupils are
living and working. The course O.
study taught in the rural school to-
day is entirely too much like the
course that is taught in the city
school; in fact it has been modeleC
to fit the needs Of the latter without
consulting enough the ends that arr
to be attained in the former"
AS an indication of the cash valu,
Of course of study, specialized Il
the needs of the rural communit,
and taught by trained normal grad
yates, the monograph says:
"Canadas rural schools Increase
the average wheat yield there fiv
bushels to the acre in few years
time. Suppose that ou rrural schot
teachers should set for themselve
, the problem of increasing the cor
crop FIVE bushels per acre, wha
would be the result? Let us see. /
1910 the farmers of Kentucky plan
ed and cultivated 100000 acres
corn, which yielded 1O5,27O,OOO busl
els. An increase OF five bushels pc
I acre wuld have made the yield is
100000 bushels more, These 1S,5OO
900 bushels Of corn would hay
brought, at the average farm pric
December 1, 1910, approximate
4 $1OOOO,OOO.
"Thls money would have gone d
: rectly to the rural communiue
\ where It is much needed and wou
\ have been Of vast Importance
I solving the problems that confro
! our rural people. 1t could have be-
: used to build 1000 miles of fri
J class pike roads, or 1t would ha
I paid the expenses Of our pub
! schools for two and half years.
J would have gone far toward payi
I the farmers taxes, or It would ha
\ built and furnished many q rul
! home. Can any one figure the co
! fort and happiness that Ave bush
I more Of corn per acre would buy
the rural people Of any state?
] What the rural schools can do
tlmprovlng corn culture, they can
! for any other farm crop, II Il
adopt a rational course Of study q
tdemand teachers who can tei
Z them effectively and efficiently f
tunately practical principles OF az
! culture are neither difficult to le'
! nor irksome to teach The subj
appeals to rural pupils because
comes within the scope Of their
I mediate interests
Rural life can be wonderfully
proved by the united efforts Of tea
I ers TO promote real, genuine upl
I ing thrift through instruction 10
principles and practices Of agri'
tmre. To teach these principles
I teacher must have had thoro
preparation in this special feld'
rural Interests and rural pl
thems are not like the city's inter