Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-04-09
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING

In seeking the underlying reasons
| for the obvious fact that
| Countrv the 100000 city chill
! dren of school age in the
AeocneIs. United States have in
comparably better educational adj
vantages than tho 100000 children
within the same age limits who live in
the rural districts. the United States
bureau of education has placed a major
share of the blame on the fact that the
average country school teacher 1s
young. poorly prepared, inexperienced
and. above all. nomadic; while the ma
jority of the city teachers are specially
| trained for their work and remain in
the same field for years at a time.
Having uncovered this condition of
affairs, the bureau has taken the view
that the solution of the problem OF
getting the right kind of teachers to
the country and of inducing them to
remain there lies in the building of q
'teacherage" beside each rural school
house-in providing. in other words:
comfortable home for the secular In
structor close by his or her place OF
" n,
for the religious instructor near his
church. One of the principal ways in
which the bureau of education is help
ing this movement for the establish
ment of teacherages is by directing the
matter to the attention of state educa-
tional officials and county superfn-
tendents of schools in all parts of the
country.
Data secured by the bureau show
that there are more than 100000 rural
Al 1r-t~ Lots 1yVotf a q
that practically one-third of all the
teachers in these districts have had no
professional training for their work.
and that approximately two-thirds Of
all the rural teachers remain in a given
school only one year. Inquiries have
brought out the fact that failure to
remain in the same district longer is
almost always due to a lack of desir-
able living conditions. The best stu
ated farm families do not, as a rule.
homes in which accommodations can be
secured-often far from the school
transformations are often most I'M
inviting
The whole problem Of rural life is
one to which the government. through
several departments. is giving serious
consideration, for it Is realized that
the rapid developments of the past few
decades that have tended to make
present-day life so much broader and
extent passed some country communi-
ties by. Especially. it is seen. has this
been true on the social side. for the
rather harsh individualism and fsola-
ton of farmers families in MANY parts
of the country have been but slightly
modified.
The general adoption of the teach
erage an institution, it is believed,
would go far toward changing all this.
On the physical side the teachers
homes, built, it is hoped. to combine
beauty and utility. and improved and
cared for by men and women or cul-
models for the neighborhood, stimu-
lating the building and remodeling of
country homes that would be much
more attractive and comfortable than
is the average home of the rural dis
tricts today. AT all events, the federal
educational experts feel. the teacherage
should be properly ventilated. furnished
with sleeping porches and equipped
with what are probably the most i'm
portant of all the gifts of civilization
to the home-running water and a hy-
sienic sewage disposal system. These
necessities for health and comfort. it
is recognized. are all too often lacking
in the country home.
But valuable would be- a teach
erage in every country school district
merely as a model home, it is realized
that the greatest value would be in
making possible the presence of the
right kind of teacher as a long-term
resident of the community. That the
possibilities for beneficial social work
by resident rural teachers are almost
without limit has been demonstrated in
communities which have already made
the teacherage reality Club work
among both the children and their
parents has been made more success
full because of the possibility of meet
ing a the teachers home and of keep
ing the social work up during a large
part of the vacations. In the same way
the teacherages facilitate school ath-
activities among the farmers. univer-
sity extension work and numerous
other extra school activities.
The rural educational situation in the
United States. with it's unhoused and.
therefore, nomadic teachers. is a source
of great surprise to visitors from the
highly developed agricultural coun-
tries of Europe, for in such countries
the homes of the teachers beside the
schools. or, in many cases. in the same
building, have long been community
institutions.
The movement for tea cherages in the
United States has taken hold most
firmly in the state of Washington,
where it has been pushed industrously
by the woman state superintendent of
public instruction. Mrs. Josephine
Preston. few years ago there was
not single community-owned teach
er's home in the state. Now there are
l08 cottages for teachers, and their
number is steadily being increased. The
state educational officials have had
prepared plans for standard small
and large home. and these are furnish
ed TO communities at nominal cost
in place of the usual architects fee
Though the teacherage movement has
had its greatest development in Wash
ington, it has not been confined to that
state A recent survey of the field by
the United States bureau of education
shows one or more teachers cottages
in practically every state in the Union
The movement is being fostered by the
General Federation of Women's Clubs
OF the United States, and it Is believed
by the federal educational specialists
that the construction of teacherages
Will be the next big educational move
ment Of the country
In these days when members of near
ly every class Of society have a work
ing knowledge of