News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1913-07-02
The Great Importance of the
Country School

|
The Educational Commission, whose
purpose is TO study and report upon the
whole system of schools in Vermont, Is
seeking to ascertain. first, what the
present conditions of the schools are, and'
secondly, what can be done to better
them.
The body of educational experts
working under the Commission are not
working as seperate and detached in
dividuals, but in constant communication
with each other, with frequent con-
terences held at the rooms of the Carnegie
Foundation in New York. Three days
were spent recently by this body of men
in earnest discussion of the material
which had been gathered for this study.
1t has seldom happened that the educa-
iional problems of any state have re-
ceived the continuous studyof body of
men so familiar with educational history
and educational work in the effort to find
solution which should be adapted to
the best interests of the state and of it's
children.
In these conferences the body of experts
engaged in the study have made clear
to the Commission the overwhelming
Importance in their judgement of the
problem of the rural school. The welfare
of the children in these schools is without
question the states greatest educational
problem.
This will be appreciated when it is
realized that of nearly 400 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-roon schools.
The consolidation of a number of them
occasion an expenditure of about $4,000
year at present for transportation alone
aud the board of pupils and about 100000
more for tuition. These figures alone
make evident how important are both
the educational and financial aspect of
this matter of the rural school.
Furthermore, such study as is now
being made brings up clearly the
necessity for some adjustment of the
courses of study in such schools which
shall make a closer relation to the social
and economic 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 60 to college
have their studies determined for them
in the main by the demands which are
made upon the small minority of bows
and girls who are fitting themselves for
entrance to college. How many pupils
in the rural schools, for example, can tell
how many cords of wood in a load that
happens to come to the schoolhouse?
How many of the girls can figure the
number of yards of carpet required for
the room at home, figuring out the fire.
place and figuring in the hooks? 1t seems
quite clear that much can be done in
| improving the curriculum so as to obtain
| closer relation between the school tax of
the child and the life which he leads 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, well-traiued teachers
and some who have not received extensive
training, but who through natural ability
as teachers are giving in these small
scboohouses the foundation OF an excel
lent education-in education that will fit
the boy and girl alike tor life whether
they go to college or whether they go
into vocation.
From whatever point of view one looks
at the question, he is impressed by the
fact that the great and overwhelming
problem of the rural schools. If to them
can be brought intelligent and sympa-
thetic oversight and support which in
creases to some extent the teachers re-
ward, education in Vermont will be
helped in this most important and vital
part.