Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1914-10-16
REFORMING SCHOOL
INSTRUCTION

en SCHOOLS are turning out
'''i's boys and girls vino knew
Soinethlng of Latin and corr,ar
something of the civilization 81
greece and of Rome, and somethinn
OF geometry, but who knew it'll -.
nothing about the community in
when they live; they know notbin~
ol It's history, nothing of its trodi
ions nothing of its industries moth
ing OIL Its institutions. and notbina
Oh It's possibilities for the fnturo
me life that goes on about them
with It's needs, its failures. and its
suggestions, makes no appeal 70
Ohem' because they do not under
stand Its significance. Our rrro,
communities in West Virginia have
greatly suffered in the past because
Tie majority of their young peonle
VINO nave gone to high school and 70
college have not returned to them
TO give them the benefit of their
framing and their increased abilitv
lhey have gone into the towns and
e''ies OF the state, and into the towns
ana cities of other states. to seek nm.
Eortunlties there and to use the abil-
lty that they have developed. MANY
oil them have gone to seek onnor-
tunities in distant places because the
lessons that they learned in school
dealt largely with distant places and
distant activities. They have WELD
ed TO the lure of things that they
nave read about and thought about
They have discovered no emporium
lilies at home because they have not
been taught how to look for them
Partly because of this desertion bv
many OF their best young people.
some of our rural communities are
yet undeveloped, and many of those
that have been developed owe their
development to those who have
OulSlOG,
What he says about high schools.
we suspect, is quite as true of the
corn belt as of the Atlantic sea-
board states. What we are thinking
about, however, is the rural school.
Why should not the rural school
teach the children something about
the township and the county and the
farm life in that county and town
ship?
How would it do for the teacher
to set aside an afternoon for it, an
nouQcing it a week of two before
hand, and have the pupils tell how
many farms there are in the school
district, how many farmers, how
many tenants, how many own their
own farms, how many children in
the district, how many of school
age, how many are enrolled, how
many attend, what percentage the
average attendance is of the full en-
rollment? The teacher cou4d furnish
this last, but the children ought to
know She might go further and as
certain and tell the children what it
costs the taxpayers per annum for
the education of those who actually
attend She might also have them
ascertain how many belong to any
church, how many children belong
to Sabbath schools, how many attend
in each case. and what percentage OF
the whole number. She might go
still further. and have them find out
how many acres of other grain, how
many acres in pasture and meadow,
how many cattle, hogs, sheep, and
horses there are on each farm.
If the county superintendent were
to require that each district in the
township should ascertain these
facts, say giving half day to it,
would not this be about as valuable
an education as could be secured for
that day? Would it not interest
these young people in the township
in which they live?
AS the season progresses, they
could find out the yield per acre OF
each kind of grain, etc. 1t would
not be difficult to get bright boys and
girls to find out the per cent of full
stand of corn on the farm. There is
no end to the information that might
be brought out about the school dis
trict within the district itself.
The high schools do not give the
children in the towns and cities the
education they ought to have; bu,
they are improving, are getting their
teaching more closely connected with
the life of the people in the city.
There is great room for improve
m ent in the rural schools as well.
When the children begin to ask
ouestions at home, the farmers may
wonder what it is all about, and
nossiblv may object They may visit
the school to file their objections.
We hone they will. They will thus
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