The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1915-09-30
ROADS AND COUNTRY SCHOOLS
Good Highways Mean That Schools
Are Well Attended.

Good Highways Mean That Schools
Are Well Attended.
Good roads aud consolidated grad
ed country schools are the greatest
need Of this nation" says Mrs. Robert
Baker of Washington. More than
100000 will be spent on public
roads in the states the coming year.
II is time women We're busy on pub
lie service which affects them and their
children so intimately"
Mrs. Baker. helped by such women
Us Miss Jane Adams, Mrs. Ella Flagg
Young, Miss Julia Lathrop and other
leading women of the nation, has form
ed woInen's auxiliary to the Amerl-
can Highway association.
I'VE are working side by side with
the National Congress of Mothers, as
well we might. lust think. says Mrs.
Baker, that in this country only
trife more than one-half of the popu-
lation Of school age are in school, and
that only for six months Of the year.
In japan 9S per cent of the children
attend school nine months of the year.
"Of course various factors affect
school attendance and the amount Of
illiteracy among the people Of COM
munity But it is u fact worth con-
sidering that in five states chosen at
random for their high percentage Of
improved roads the average attend
ance Of enrolled pupils is TIA. and in
FIVE states chosen for their VIGOROUSLY
muddy, rocky, neglected roads the av
erage attendance of enrolled pupils is
59.16"
The women's auxiliary has been
| looking up these statistics, and it finds
| that in five states where the percent
age of improved roads is 1856 the per
| centage of illiterates born of white ma
tive parents is "a, while in FIVE states
| where the percentage Of improved
| roads is only 1.5l the percentage Of
| ilIiteracy among native whites is 4.G5,
| 1t certainly does look as if good roads
led to literacy.
You can't make Il child go to school
| when going means trauIrins long dis
| tances through the SHOW and mud.
| Some of them go of course, if they
want book learning badly enough. They
| go, get awful colds iii the going, and
then they sntFie and cough in the box
ed up schuolroom and hestow their
germs upon all the other children. Also
| lack of good highways has led to more
than one accident when railways were
near.
'"rhe ideal to be aimed ut Is roads
| good enough for roller skating and
we'll built consolidated schools. There
| are about 1000 Of these consolidated
schools, and this number could easily
be doubled many times over" says
Mrs Baker. ''ExperiesIce has shown
that 500 children can be educated in
one OF these consolidated schools ut |;
sIualler expense than can 500 children
In eight small one room schools, and
as to the better quality Of the educa
ton there can be no question
The little red sciioUlhouSe may bt
picturesque in poetry. but in real life
it is smelly and i'll ventilated. full OF
wood smoke and bad discipline and
productive of chilblains and imperfect
| spoilers Farmers want graded schools
for their children and rightly. Many
| give up their farms and move to town
for the sake of their graded school
So if we want to keep up our food sup
ply it behooves us to bring the graded
school to the farm, and that is just
/ what better roads will do"