The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1913-04-04
NEW TYPE OF RURAL SCHOOL
Booker I. Washinnton.

NEW TYPE OF RURAL SCHOOL.
Booker T. Washington.
III many sections of the South the
parents of rural Negro children are ig-
norant ex-slave folk whose lives have
been spent entirely On farms. They
know nothing of intelligent cooking or
proper housekeeping. nothing of the
rules of health. Broken chairs, floors
with holes in them, broken windows,
leaky roofs, ragged and unwashed bed
ding, soiled dishes and table linen
these are the home surroundings of
many of these children from infancy.
In view of these conditions, it early
became clear to us at Tuskegee that
if we really wished to dovetail school
work in to the real life of the people
as a factor in their uplift, something
more than the abstract teaching of
cube root and verb conjugation should
be offered in the classroom.
In Macon County, Alabama, a plan
is being carried out which seems a
good solution of this problem. 1t was
decided that, to be of the greatest
service to the child, to combat his en-
vironment, not only a special class
oom should be provided but every
thing surrounding the child should
serve to instruct. AS an experiment
we constructed a building on the or
der of our southern cottages, contain
ing rooms for a family and in addition,
a large assembly-room. A family, in
which both parents were teachers,
were obtained to live in the building.
It a made clear to them that every
room in the house and everything
about the house should serve as an
object lesson; that front yard, back
yard, stable, horse, COX, garden and
the little farm adjoining should have
their place in the days schedule of
teaching.
Dining-room, kitchen and bedroom
are used daily in teaching these chill
dren the different phases Of house
keeping, they actually doing the work.
The girls Of a certain grade take turns
at the cooking. They come to the cot
tage in time to prepare the morning
meal for the teachers and family.
This is properly served IN the dining
room, which has been set in order by
another group of little girls-the aim
being that all shall learn the best
methods of service. The pupils set
the bedrooms in order and look after
the small children of the teachers.
All this is done under the vigilant eye
of the mother teacher, who is thor
oughly competent, having been trained
at Tuskegee Institute, mastering
trades as well as academic work. The
girls in the higher classes are taught
cooking, but all the girls receive in
struction in gardening, housekeeping
and sewing. The boys come directly
under the eye of the mar of the house.
They care for the small farm, the
stock, yards and garden and do in ad-
dition a certain amount of farm car
pentry. These are all real lessons
with practical demonstrations quite
as thoroughly explained as the black
board exercises in the classroom. We
call it the Model School, meaning not
that it is a model to any other school,
but that everything in it and about it
is a model to the girls and boys who
attend.
A double purpose is served in the
Model School. 1t fits the child for
life in the community in which he
lives and it affords material to give
life to the exercises in his textbooks.
The boy not only constructs the fence,
but he figures out it's cost-cost of
nails, lumber, time-a live exercise in
arithmetic. In his grammar lesson he
uses words suggested by his fence and
writes short compositions on his work
The same is true of the girl in the
work of cooking, bed-making and Ia
ble-setting. The tasks are done and
! then used to demonstrate the lessons
in books. This gives real interest
to the classroom work, as both teach
ers and children feel mat they are
writing, talking and figuring on &C
tual things.
To keep up interest in the school we
frequently invite the parents to be
present. They are made to feel thai
the school is a center for their activ
tiles. They become interested them
selves. because their children in learn
ing useful things are doing work tina
the parents understand and appre
ciate. They go home with informa
ton about cotton, corn, winter green's
about the care of live stock and soil
They gain some idea about washing
dishes, setting table and putting
room in order.
The effect of the idea embodied il
this school has been highly gratifying
A new light has come into the com
munity which shows in the faces o
many of the hard-headed old blacl
folk, who used to be zone too enthusi
astic about education. The change /
only in process, of course, but Their
are fewer rags in the windows of tn
/ communitv fewer tumbledoWn fences