Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-05-29
GREAT IMPORTANCE OF
THE COUNTRY SCHOOL

The educational commission, whose
purpose is to study and report upon the
whole system of schools I'm Vermont, is
seeking to ascertain, first, what the pres
cnt condition of the schools is, and sec
ondly, what can be done to better them.
The body of educational experts work
ing under the commission are not work
ing as separate and detached individuals,
but in constant communication with each
other, with frequent conferences held at
the rooms of the Carnegie Foundation in
New York During the past week days
were spent by this body of men in earnest
discussion of the material which had been
gathered for this study. 1t has seldom
happened that the educational problems
of any state have received the contin-
uous study of a body of men so familiar
With educational history and educational
work in the effort to find a solution which
should be adapted to the best interests
Of the State and of its children.
In these conferences the body of ex-
peits engaged in the study have made
clear to the commission the overwhelm-
Ing Importance in their judgment of the
problem of the rural school The welfare
of the children in these schools is with
out question the States greatest edu-
cational problem,
This will be appreciated when it is
realized that of nearly l,40J Of the schools
of the State about SO per cent. in their
number are one-room schools, and the
shifting of population has caused the
abandonment of about 400 more such
schools More than one-third of the
towns and Independent school districts
have only one-room schools. At present,
about one half of the children of the
State are being taught in these one-room
schools. The consolidation of a number
of them occasions an expenditure of
about 100000 a year at present for trans
portation alone and the board of pupils
and about $4,000 more for their tuition.
These figures alone make evident how
important are both the educational and
financial aspects of this matter of the
rural school.
The professional training for the teach
ers and their shifting of position from
one schoo. to another constitute problems
to which special attention is being given.
Furthermore, such a study as is now
being made brings up clearly the neces
sity for some adjustment of the courses
of study in such schools which shall make
a closer relation to the social and eco
nomic life of the children. Even those
well Informed in education have given
comparatively little attention to this
question and have left the rural school
curriculum to be settled in large measure
by the demands of the high school, which
in turn receives its largest impulse from
the college, so that girls and boys in
remote country schools, 90 per cent. of
whom will never go to college, have their
studies determined for them in the main
by the demands which are made upon the
small minority of boys and girls who are
fitting themselves for entrance to college.
How many pupils IN the rural schools,
for example, can tell the number of cords
OF wood in a load that happens to come
to the school house? How many of the
girls can figure out the number Of yards
of carpet required for the room IT home,
figuring out the fireplace and figuring
in the recesses and hooks? 1t seems quite
clear that much can be done in improv
Ing the curriculum so as to obtain a
closer relation between tho school task
OF tit NlllIh anu INC ne WHICH H' lt'lbS
in his home and in his community
An examination of the actual teaching
being done In these schools, some of
which are quite remote from villages.
shows that the excellence of the teaching
is by no means dependent on the size of
the school Throughout Vermont are
many conscientious. wel-trained teach
ers and some who have not received eX-
tensivc training but who through Ratu-
raj ability as teachers are giving in these
small school houses the foundations of
an excellent education, an education tina,
will fit the boy and girl alike for life,
whether they go to college or whether
they 20 into "A vocation.
From whatever point of view one
looks at the question, he is impressed
by the fact that the great and over
whelming problem of this State is the
problem of the right conduct Of these
elementary rural schools. If to them can
| he brought intelligent and sympathetic
oversight and support which increases 10
some extent the teachers reward, educa-
| ton in Vermont will be helped In TINS
most important and vital part
n II YORK,