El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-09-21
Intensive Education Urged
Example Set by Belgium in Giving
Vocational Training to Children
May BE Followed in America.
iss l. red eric j. HasfZfR
AsHINGTON. D. C.. Sept. a.

AsHINGTON. D. c., Sept. a.
( A Philadelphia will entertain the
w meeting of the international
Congress of Home Education during
the last week of September. Dele
gates are coming to this congress
from many Of the countries of Eu-
rope, among them France, Germany,
I Holland and Belgium Dr. Martin
Grove Brumbaugh, who organizer the
American school system of Porto RICO,
who is now the superintendent OF
schools in Philadelphia, has been
abroad several months studying edu-
cationaI problems in Europe and en-
listing the interest of the educators
Of that continent in the international
During his trip to Europe DR..
Brumbaugh found that the average
Belgium farmer makes ten acres OF
ground yield as much as the average
Pennsylvania farmer can coax out OF
100 acres. The Belgians have inten-
sive farming, and that demands in
tensive education, each person inter-
ested in education aiming to do one
thing thoroughly well, and all of them
aiming to make the child go IN the
same direction
thoroughly alive to the needs of pub
lie education, il feels that a higher
type of home training is also needed
and by supplementing the school with
home training, it hopes the child VIII
reach maturity with a healthy BODY.
developed mind, and so trained that
he or she will never be content I'M
til the most has been made of every
opportunity presenting itself.
Belgian Children Wei Trained.
DR.. Brumbaugh holds up Belgium
as an example Of what proper Voca-
tional training may do for children. At
the recent international exposition at
Client the Belgians amazed the other
countries participating by the show
ing its children were able to make.
The training given them is such that
the minute they come out of school
they are ready to. take their place as
wealth producers. One child may be
taught especially the art of dairying,
another the art of grain growing, but
each one is sure to be given some
special training in a line where ne
can become useful and a wealth pro-
Queer at once. And to this is at
tributed the remarkable progress that
Belgium has been making The best
authorities of Europe are brought to
Belgium to tell the children how TO do
things, and each time one of them
comes there is an exposition held
showing what the trained child may
accomplish in the line with which
the speaker deals.
Movement Spreads.
The movement in Belgium is spread
ing rapidly in the other countries OF
western Europe, and it finds a coun-
terpart in the movement for the re-
direction of rural education in the
United States. Perhaps 100000
children of school age live on the
farms of the United States. While
great progress has been made In the
past 20 years in city education, 1t
is only recently that educators have
awakened to the fact that the farm
child has been neglected in the de-
velopment of educational facilities.
In spite of the fact that the most or
a little old one-rOom country School-
house, where one teacher taught all
grades, with 80 or 40 pupils, and with
20 or 25 classes during the day, the |
country boy still became wealth /
producer and a useful member of So
enough of his kind found their way
to the city to supply an infusion OF !
fresh blood into the veins of city life |
Plans to Make Things Fnirer.
When educators began to weigh I
things and to take stock of educa-
money spent by the state on the ed !
ucatiOn of the rural child was yield /
ing greater economic returns than !
that spent upon the city child, and /
they decided that the country child /
ought to have at least as good edu- /
cational advantages as the city child /
SO came the movement for making
over the rural school. a movement
that is Just now getting under full /
swing. One of the great factors IN !
this movement is the attitude of the
United States Bureau of Education
under its present commissioner, +. +.
ClaxtOn. He says that rural educa- |
ion has long been neglected, and that I
ne will measure his success as an ed
lcator by the assistance he can render /
he movement to give the farm boy as
good a school and as good a teacher
IS the child of the city has. In the
rope of bringing this ideal to a real
cation he has headed national move
nent in that direction
The average school year IN the ru-
al school is 1873 days, while that in
he cities is 1874 days. He thinks that
he country child ought to have $50
Laws a year Of schooling. Contend
ne that the people of the future can
lot rise above their teachers, he |
would make the qualifications for
eachers in the rural districts Just as
Ugh as those in the cities He would .
equire a minimum of four years high [
chool training and two years of nor
nal or college training as the stand I
I'd for entrance into the teaching pro-
ess.on.
In the country school heretofore
here has been no such standard. Even
oday. in some of the states. teacher !
tandards are distressingly low. For
Instance in Alabama, only seven per I
ent of the teachers have taught more
han two years. and it is probable
hat not one teacher in ten measures /
p to the minimum standard laid down |