Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-07-20
RURAL PROBLEMS DISCUSSED
Questions of School and Organ
ization Up in Conference.
DR.. Milo II. HiIlegas. DR.. Ernest Burn
ham of Kalamazoo, Mich, Master
of state Grange and Others
Give Talks.

Gay at the opening session of the con-
Terence of Vermonts rural problems. His
SUBJECT was THE Rural School Prob
lem 1t was n question of problems
and not of a problem, he declared
Or. lIillegas was introduced by A. w.
Hewitt. member of the State board
of education. Mr.. Hewitt was down on
the program to preside. but did his pre-
siding from the first row OF seats in the
science auditorium in Williams Science
hall. where the meeting was held Prof
j, u. jerks of the School of Agriculture
introduced him. after stating the object
of the conference which he said, was
to get together" the various bodies in
terested in the general topic-the uni
versity and College of Agriculture, State
board OF education, State Grange and the
Vermont Bankers association Mr..
Hewitt said he was proud Of DR..
Ilillegas" and Counted 1t a great honor
to present him. Mr. Hewitt and the sec
ond speaker OF the afternoon, DR.. Ernest
Durham director of the rural school
department of the Normal school at
Kalamazoo, Mich. who Mr. Hewitt said
was an expert in "Kalamazoology," pro-
Nded most of the fun Of the session.
HOMl; AND SCHOOL.
Under the old regime, said DR.. Hillegas.
there was a complete separation OF school
and home. This separation existed still
to some degree in Vermont The child
had feeling that the school was no
place for the parent. Appreciation of the
problems of the community was useful
in school work. The commissioner told
of one school in the State where there
was great lack of reference works in his
tory. The teacher thereupon had the
children bring from home all the his
tory books they could lay their hands
upon and then set one book against
the other by discussing the questions on
which they dsa greed Some of these
books, said Dr. IIllekas, ought to have
been burned. The superintendent would
be surprised he said, at the way parents
would respond if they were advised
rs to the best books to get In that
way the serious books at home would
begin to he used apprecia lively.
81 don't believe there exists anywhere
as much material as can he picked up
in country homes" continued the speak
er, for purposes of shop work. The
ordinary farmers boy has tools that
We're not obtanable in a large city. I'VE
haven't exhausted the resources OF the
ordinary home in an educational way"
DR. Hillegas pooh-poohed basketry which
he said was good substitute for
chloroform in the school room Raffia
work he also criticised. But he gave an
example of school in which a teacher
with the guidance Of plans had enabled
some of her boys to make first class
row-boat This was an instance OF many
ways in which practical manual work
might be had.
GETTING CHILDREN OFT.
Another problem was getting the chill
dren to school. THE parent of child
in school shouldn't get the idea that
the State is going to transport that child
to school, even if the distance is ten
miles away, said the commissioner. And
teachers and superintendents clapped
their approval. He said he knew OF an
instance where the children had pro-
vided for them a conveyance which
carried them mile and a half. They
followed it back to town in summer
and went to the movies. One Of their
number was a one-legged boy.
Or. IIillegas repeated his statement OF
Thursday in which he said that the high
schools of Vermont We're neither trying
to make farmers nor prepare boy for
college Both objects We're defeated il
made too obvious. But the high schools
had in the past been preparatory
schools, and the result had been a COM
paratively small proportion of students
who went to college
DIR. BURNHAM SPEAKS
DIR, Durham said he had grown up
with an idea of Vermont, gained from
textbooks in history and his reading,
which was later strengthened by the
specimens of Nermonters with whom he
had come into contact in Kalamazoo.
The impression was strengthened more
still after walk of seven or eight miles
yesterday morning.
The young people Of Vermont must
feel that they have a big task if they
are to realize Horace Mann's notion
of the "improvabilty of the human
race" The phase of the subject with
which he himself was concerned was
leadership. The leader in education
should be a man who was a good
fact-getter and fact-distributer. a man
who obtained the material and then
participated in it's use Secondly. he
was "A man whose Official relationship
was such as to bring him in close
contact with subordinates. etc. DR.
Burnham poked fun at the grandi-
loquence Of some teachers who talked
about educational craftsmanship
and the like. The good leader got
hold of the best things in education
quickly and was contagious, He was
man who got about" and brought
with him the new ideas. In Michigan
a good deal of development in agricul-
tural education was going on and the
teachers in the agricultural schools
taught high school students. Various
voluntary womens organizations haG
initiated movements which later founc
expression in the educational system
of the state. The straight jacket OF
necessity moved them.
DR.. Burnham quoted Dean Russell
of Teachers College. Columbia Uni
versity, who proclaimed the elemen
tary school as at the basis of the pub
lie school system. But it was a mis-
take to try to make the rural schoo
do the work of the city public school
| Dr, Burnham gave examples of teach
crs in Michigan who had done unusua
work individually one girl had takeI
normal school course after gettint
| her college degree and then gone t
teaching an elementary school. Tha
| was an illustration of the fact tina
some special training is necessar!
! even for elementary teaching.
| In answer to a question from Prof