The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-14
RURAL SCHOOLS.
Defects Pointed Out Bq Paper FrOm
 The U. s. Bureau of Education

Running directly counter to the | growing ''back-to-the-soiI' movement.
 rural school-t teachers are an actual
 force in the depopulation of the cOun- try districts. They set the faces of country boys and girls toward the l city, and by ideaIizing city life they l induce 8 movement toward the cen 1 ters Of population that often deprivs8
 the country village of it's best citizens" Mutchler and w J. Craig, two mem | bers of the faculty of the Western l Kentucky State Normal School, in a monograph which the United States Bureau of Education has just publish | ed for free distribution.
 The tendency of the rural school to | encourage emigration to the city, says the Government publication, Is In
 consequences of the fact that the course of study in most rural s5Aoots l is merely copy of that given 10 city l school children, without reference to | the different environment and lOca-
 needs of the country child As a re-
 suit of giving the country child an
 education modeIed on city lines, the
 where, with rare exceptions, have i idea ized city life, and unWtttingly 1 have been potent factors in inducing l young men and women to leave the l farm and move into the city. This
 movement often carries some Of the l best blood and brain of the community I lnIO the ClIy, OTT6n 10 De GOSLs @S1GLGAp
 or destroyed; certainly to be lost from | the rural community. It is possible l and right, indeed a duty, to dignify rural life and to save to 1t and it's l interests the best blood Of the Coun-
 try.
 '-The rural school has not the fnHu-
 ence that it should have. One Of the 1 chief reasons lies in the fact that the
 course of study Is i1-adapted to rural ] life in all its relations.
 1 we are united in believing that g. 1 ira in rEAifs for fEa l and its work while these pupils are l living and working The course of l study. taught in the rural school to- | day is entfre,y too much like the | course that is taught in the city
 school; in fact it has been m0deIed to fit the needs of the latter without | consulting enough the ends that are ! to be attained ln the former As an indication Of the cash value | of a course of study, specialized to
 the needs of the rural community and
 taught by trained normal graduates,
 the monograph says:
 1 ''Canada's rural schools increased
 the average wheat yield there 5 bush l els to the acre in few years time. l Suppose that our rural schoeI-teach- 1 CTS should set for themselves the problem of increasing the corn crop 5 | bushels per acre, what would be the
 result? Let us see. In 1910 the far
 mers of Kentucky planted and cultt-~
 vated S,6so,ooo acres Of corn, which ! yielded 1O5, ,279, eco bushels An i'm | crease Of bushels per acre would \ have made the yield Is, 5O0, 900 bushels
 more. These IS, ,500, ,0o0 bushels Of
 corn would have brought, at the aT-
 craze farm price December l, 1910, ap-
 proxinate,y $1o.OO0. .0o8.
 This money would have gone di-
 rectly to the rural communities, where
 it is much needed, and would have l been of vast importance in solving the problems that confront QUE rural 1000 miles Of arst-c1ass roads, or if would have paid the expenses Of our public schools for two and a half years. It would have gone far toward have built and furnished many a rural
 home. Can any one figure the com
 fort and happiness that bushels the rural people of any state7 What the rural schools can do for improving corn culture they can do | a rational course Of study and de-
 mand teachers who can teach them
 effective'y and efficiently. Fortunate | ly practical principles Of agriculture are neither difficult to learn nor irIz-
 some to teach The subject appeals 1 to rural pupils because it comes with
 in the scope of their immediate inter | ests.
 Rural life can be wonderfully i'm
 proved by the united efforts Of teach
 CTS to promote req, genuine, uplifting thrift through instruction in the priu- ciples and practices Of agriculture To teach these principles the teacher must have had thorough preparation in this special field
 Rural interests and rural problems
 are not like the city's interests and it's problems, and educators every coming more and more to believe that the course of study adapted to secur- ing the most efficient rural life Is rad ically different from any other course Of study The elementary school must. if it fuIfills It's high purpose. minister to the needs of the community in of study co-ordinated with rural life is needed, together with a corps of teachers trained to put into operation the work that the country districts need.
 ''sinoe there are common interests between rural and city peoples, the courses ol study fn their schools and the instruction shou d have certain elements in coTpTnOE. hut there are i'm portant differences in industries and in environment. Corresponding to difference in instruction, and in this difference the adjustment should be so devised as to make the school con tribute most to the needs of rural life.
 ''It is now quite generally conceded that the following subjects are neces- school-teaehers: Nature study, e,e- mentary principles of practical agr1- culture, sanitary science and hygiene domestic economy, and practical Prin- chemistry and physics as applied in the study Of these subjects The teachers should be required to have a working knowledge of these sub tects. The formal training Of most country boys and girls ends with the rura1-school course. 4 fundamental knowledge of the foregoing subjects Is certainly a minimum to require of the teacher who trains them for tho lives that they must lead"
 The Bureaus monograph then out lines in considerable detail the ground to be covered in a normal course on these subjects, and describes how the topics are to be treated. The mono graph adds, ''It is believed that teach CTS trained in this work will be much better prepared to do such work in rural schols, and that those schools will show 8 measure of efficiency thaG has never yet been generally attain ed.