The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-12-16

pSOple Will go Where e0ucat1On. Cali p0
had for their children. There is no
sense in talking of the charms of
country life and the independence and
dignity of producing from the soil. il
the school at command is no more
modern than a wooden pillow. The old
fashioned one-roomed schoolhouse,
which holds 40 or SO ungraded pupils,
having but a single teacher who
knows nothing but books, is not a
modern institution, though great men
have issued from its door. It may
be all that the county can afford
II schools are grouped and grades in
stituted. The richest state in the
union has over 1000 schools of this
character, wherein the teachers are
paid less than competent farm hands
and this brings to mind the correlative
thought that one needed reform in the
school system is in the elevation of
teaching into a real profession, as in
older countries. AS it is now
teacher is almost without status in our
society. And this, in addition to the
inadequacy of the pay, has drawn to
the profession those who use it only as
a makeshift and those who, out of a
spirit of self-sacrif1ce and love for the
work, serve in the highest way the
public good. OF the former sclass
we need fewer, and to the latter
should come increasing honor.
SO co-ordinated and com bined as to
make them efficient tools? What
should be the standard for, a teach
er's qualifications How may chill
dren be brought to and taken from
the school to distant homes at the least,
expense? To what extent should the
teaching be out of doors and the Tex
alnples'' those of real life? How can
the boy learn that there is adventure
in farm life as well as in the city -
for adventure he will have To
what uses may the school building be
put as a community center for the
neighborhood dance, lecture, or NOV
ing picture show, or, perhaps, as the
home Of a cooperative buying or
mark citing organization. These are
but a few of the questions which
many men have tried to answer, and
there have been some successful ex-
periments made and right answers
given.
But it is as hopeless a task for
local school board to find these an
swers as for a lawyer to know the
decisions OF all the courts The teach
ers, the superintendents, and the
school boards need leadership; they
need an authoritative statement of
Conclusions by the wisest and most
practical men in the land; they need
to- be 5sh own the better way And with
even as little as hundred thousand
dollars year for two or three years
we could, II believe, conduct a cam
paign for a new kind of rural school
that would work little less than a
in rural life. Our aim would
be to identity the school with the farm
and the village, and develop q new
respect In fathers and mothers for
the school as q practical and not a
mere scholastic institution. The
a rf1ye
The experimental work has been. done
we know where the best seed is Here
is call for the cooperative leadership
of the government In q work OF SUI
preme value to the state. The man
to direct this work should be one
whose word the nation would heed
That such a man can be secured there
IS no doubt. for experience justifies the
statement that there are no men of
large capacity whose services the
country can not command at a ma
teriai sacrifice.
If asked how this work could be
done should say that It could best be
done by showing to the picked teacn-
ers of the country the model schools.
The quickest and the 5surest way to
set this country ahaIne with zeal for
a better type Of country school would
be to show the teachers such schools. ]
make them live IN them, and learn
There is no such lesson as the one
that is taught by experience. Lee
lures, moving pictures. and books may
aid But to see and be part of a |
movement or life is to make it ones
avn If ten i've men or women were
taken from each state to some rural i
schools and there for month We're |
into the art of teaching out
Of life by doing things and not read |
ing about things being done, and II
each of these ten went home a mis- |
sionary for the new idea, how long |
would it be before the states were
and old methods aband- |
oned 2? And once. the right kind of |
schools were started in any state how |
long would it take others to follow? |
This thing can be doI4c and by meth
DDS that are SO simple and direct.that |
they, will be startling, The need is /
immediate, and surely it would be a
shame to let a generation waste Itself |
while the idea slowly ereepss on all /
tours through a country that has in |
vented wireless telegraphy.
In this work the newspapers of the !
country could. and I feel assured I
would, give invaluable assistance. Not |
merely by the publicity given to the
but more definitely by /
helping in the selection of the candf-
dates for this opportunity, in sending
them to these selected schools, and !
on the campaign for putting
they have found into reality