Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-01-28
TUESDAY, JANUARY %, 1913.
CITY coNVENlENcES IN A cOUN.
TRY SCHOOL,,


How a small, one.teacher school in
the country may have all the conven-
fences popularity supposed to be the
exclusive privilege of the city is dem.
onstrated in the model rural school
at Kirksville, Mo, according to Fl. w.
Foght, specialist in rural education
for the United States Bureau OF Ed
ucation. Indoor toilets and shower
baths, drinking fountains, and a mod
ern heating, plant, are shown to be
possible in the country school, how
ever remote from the city. Further
more, the cost is said to be within
the means iof a comparatively small
community.
The Kfrksville school is c%Onspicu.
Gus for it's utilization Of every avail
able inch of space. 1t is only a one
story building, slightly wider than the
typical Missouri country school, but
the attic and basement are both put
to valuable use.a The attic is an ex-
cellent herbarirm. The basement
contains the heating plant, a combina-
ton of hot water and hot air, describ-
ed as very economical in use; the fuei
room; a bulb room for the outdoor
Garden. and a dark room Tor develop
ing photographs.
The machinery Of the school plant
consists of an ordinary pneumatic
pressure tank, operated by a gasoline
engine. A septic.tank sewer system
is maintained at small expense.
The main floor of the building, be
sides containing the classroom prop
err, has a small community library.
separate from the school library, en-
phasizing the purpose of the rural
school as a community center. The
classroom itself occupies most of the
floor. The desks and seats in it are
both adjustable and movable, with in
diyidual platforms; and when all are
removed to one side, as many as 200
people can be accommodated, thus
making lit possible to use the room
for community gatherings. The ste
reopticon in the wall of the class.
room emphasizes still further the fact
that this school is built for general
community use as yell as for ordinary
school purposes.
Every effort has been made to have
the model rural school at Huntsville
approximate actual rural conditions.
Although located on the campus at
the Kirksville Normal school, it is
detached from the other buildings.
The pupils are real rural material.
Every morning a transportation wag-
on brings in "a country children from
a distance of five miles. No town
children are allowed to attend, be
cause it is distinctly a rural school.
An expert rural teacher is in charge
and the school she conducts is an OBJ
servation school. Candidates for ru-
raj school certificates attend it at
least once a day and observe her
work, and after two years of training
in the normal school they receive
practice work in the school.
Teachers who have gone out from
experience in this model rural school
, are 500 per cent better teachers"
says Mr.. Foght; ."but the best. .indica.
tion of the value of such a school is
the way its leading features have
been copied. In the country about
Kirksville many similar schools have
been built. They do not always copy
all the details, hut the attic arrange.
ment and the sanitary equipment are
generally duplicated. Buildings mod.
eled on the Kirksville school have
been erected in Mississippi and Ne
braska."
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EGHI4#NAa - NIHTHElIE HSH4.fT 80 IN