The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1916-09-23
I. 4. 4. i. i. i. 4 i. i. + !. J. !.
I. THE RURAL SCHOOL TERM .
I. i. i. !. 1. i. i. 4 4 1. i. + l.

there must me an aroused public senti-
ment as to their needs. Previous talks
have served to show to increase the
rural school term by better average
daily attendance on the part of the ru-
raj pupils. 1t has been pointed out
that the average daily attendance OF
all pupils in the rural schools of the
United States is only 67.6 per cent OF
the enrolment. If it were possible to
take into consideration the large num-
Der of rural pupils who are not en-
rolled but who should be enrolled by
a proper enforcement of a reasonable
compulsory attendance law the aver
age daily attendance in the rural
schools for the country at large would
be less than so per cent.
In support of this declaration the
following is quoted from the Annual
Report of the State Superintendent OF
Schools of Georgia for the school year
ended December 81, 1915. Pleading
for a reosanble enforcement of a rea-
sonable compulsory attendance law
the Superintendent declares:
There are some men who are SO
mean by nature chat they must be
forced before they will give their chill
dren educational opportunities for
school training. The figures show that
1sS,6S0 children of school age in this
State did not attend school a day last
year. Many of these have never been
enrolled during any previous year
Without the strong arm of the law
they will grow up in ignorance just as
thousands before them have done"
If we go one step further in our rea-
sOning and take into consideration the
millions of rural children in short
term schools of three to four months
in length, 1t is evident that the aver
age daily attendance Of millions of pu-
pills in the rural schools for the ma
ton at large is not so per cent of what
it should be when measured by the
attendance of pupils in city schools
with nine-month's term. In other
words, the short term and the poor
attendance in the rural schools. are de-
priving millions of country boys and
girls of over half their birthright in
matters of rec school privileges as
compared with city boys and girls. We
are glad city children have the good
school privileges that are theirs. We
wish the city school were better. But
with the help of the press we are de-
termined to expose this unjust, unrea-
sonable, and un-American discrimina-
ton against country boys and girls
Equality before the law and equal edu-
cational opportunity have not yet been
provided for the farm boy and farm
girl.
But, strange as it may seem, sparse
ly settled rural communities often fight
against the things which are for their
own good A striking statement Of
this phase of the rural problems is
found in Extension Bureau Circular,
No. 2, of the University of North Caro-
lima, July 1916. In this issue Profess
sor e. G. Branson declares:
Everywhere in thinly settled coun-
try regions we find people here and
there who are suspicious. secretlve,
apathetic, and unapproachable; who
live in the eighteenth century and pre-
serve the language. manners, and Gus
toners of past long dead elsewhere,
who prefer their primitive ancient
ways, who are ghettoed in the midst of
present day civilization, to borrow a
phrase from President Frost. They
are the crablike souls described by
Victor Hugo in Les Miserables, who
before advancing light steadily retreat
into the fringe of darkness. People
like these abound in Clinton and
Franklin counties New York; where
an eighth of the native white voters
are illiterate, in Aroostock county
Maine) where nearlya fifth of the ma
tive white voters can not read their
ballots or write their names; in Wind
ham, by the way. lies midway between
the academic effulgence of Yale on the
one hand and of Harvard on the other
You can find within the sound of col
lege bells anywhere what we found the
other day in a field survey that took us
into every home in a mid-state county
in North Carolina--a family of whites,
all illiterates, half the children dead
in infancy and never doctor in the
house in the whole history of the fam
lily
"All the ages CT race history and ey-
cry level Of civilization can be found
in any county or community, even In
our crowded centers of wealth and cul-
ture We need not hunt for eighteenth
century suryiyals in mountain oovcs
alone.
And yet the only remedy for such
conditions is the education OF these
peoples. Let there be light
Textile mills In Nashua. n H.. have
Installed electric motors having a To-