The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1916-04-20
BUILDING FOR
THE FUTURE
Al the Districts In tho county
That Are Doing to Build
New 8choolhouse
SHOULD GET lATA PREPARED
On Whether It Mould be Ds&&er "a
Build the Little Country School
Or the Consolidated School :

The consolidated school is the
school that serves the general ed
ucational needs of fair-sized ru-
raj community. 1t is immaterial
as TO how it is formed, whether it
be by petition, election, or COM
mon consent. The great oppor-
tunity of this school is to provide
better school work in the grades
and better high school privileges
for the country youth. 1t is the
only school that can provide edu-
cational facilities that are as free
and equal as those furnished to
the city children. The problem to
solve here is to unite the rural
schools, where feasible, to form
the central OF consolidated school
II is success everywhere.
The greatest objection to the
consolidated school is the trans
fSelation. In this is involved the
cost to the tax payer and hard
ship imposed upon the children.
According TO information at hand
over one thousand children have
been interviewed upon this mat
ter and there is yet to be the first
case where any child would SOON
or go to the rural school than to
the consolidated school, even
though in the former instance he
had to walk less than one-half
mile to the little country school,
while he may be- compelled to ride
six or seven miles To the console
dated school. BY consulting
dated school. II is the northern
counties in this state that lead
i'm the number of consolidated
schools. despite the fact that these
counties average with the loves:
temperature and coldest winter
storms which would seem TO re-
fute the argument of hardship on
account of inclement weather.
Then, too. these are not the veal
thiest counties i'm the state. In
any case it is more humane to- eX-
pose the horses to bad roads and
inclemnnt weather than it is to
expose the children. AS far as the
cost is concerned thi, can be made
very high or very low. When the
private or family system is used,
it costs Si6.28 per pupil per year,
while if the public Or bus system
is used, it will average $3.50 per
pupil per year. In several of the
schools i'm other parts of the state
the private system is the one used
because it gives there the creates.
satisfaction. In some, the combI-
nation of the two systems is used
with much success while some
prefer the public or bus system.
There are now 333 consolidated
schools i'm The state. all counties
being represented but one. OF
this number i23 are open country
consolidated schools and 2IO are
town consolidated. Four years ago
last June there We're ia cOnsoli-
dated schools. This means an in
crease of over 200 during this
period. being the greatest increase
in the history Of the state. This is
due largely to the state aid grant
and the educational campaign
that has been carried Oh to pro-
mote their growth.
There is only one consolidated
school in Richland county and
that is Sheyenne. II has proven
full there and we advise all
districts that are going to build
new schOoIhOuSes this year or in
the future to look into the matter
For other infOrma-
tion the person who wishes to in
quire into this matter can get
of good material on
consolidated schools at the COun-
ty Superintendrnts of Schools Of
flee.