The Colorado statesman., 1916-10-14
NOT SQUARE DEAL
FOR RURAL PUPILS
Uncle Sam Finds Discrimination
in System in Favor of Ur-
ban Children.
SHORTER Term IN COUNTRY
Improvement Can Be Made by increas-
ing Average Daily Attendance,
Which Is Far Below That
of the Cities.


Uncle Sam has come to the conclu-
sion that the farmer boy and girl of
the county are not getting square
deal in the matter of obtaining an ed
ucation. Determinations, which he
describes as among the "rankest" kind,
are permitted against rural school
pupils, as compared with city school
children by the public school policy of
the United States, according to ]. l..
O'Brien, school extension agent of the
bureau of education of the department
of the interior, in n series of discus
siOns of the rural school term Just is
sued.
zone thing to be remembered in
connection with the rural school term.
as concerns the country at large" says
Mr.. O'Brien, sis that farm boys and
girls have school term 46.6 days
shorter than that of their city cousins.
In every section of the United States
there is discrimination in our public
school policy against farm boys and
farm girls. For example, this dis
elimination costs the country pupils
Of the South Atlantic states. 59.2 days;
South Central states, 56.4; North Cen
trail states, 31.4; Western states, 35.7,
and North Atlantic division, 2S.S
days. In the language of o. w. Neal,
professor of rural education, State
Normal school, Stevens Point Wis,
the further we go into the study of
the rural school term the more evil
dent it becomes that the country pu-
pills are not given square deal in free
school privileges"
Term May Be Increased.
The rural school term throughout
the country may be increased without
voting another day of school or levy
ing another mill of school tax, accord
ing to Mr. O'Brien. He explains that
this can be done by improving the
average daily attendance of the pu-
pills actually enrolled in school through
more strict enforcement of the COM
pulsory attendance laws. Where such
laws have been enacted he points out
that the legislature has the power
Of creating compulsory attendance
statutes that will increase the attend
ance in rural schools. lie further
says:
"The enrolment of pupils in the ru-
raj schools, according to the latest
available data, was IL, ,100,553 in 1910,
with an average daily attendance
therein of 7,509,55S, making the aver
ige daily absences in the rural schools
alone 3,500,995. These figures are ap-
palling. The average daily attend
ance in rural schools for the country
ut large is only CTS per cent--an av-
erage daily attendance of III per
cent lower than that in urban schools.
1t is evident that rural school pupils
are penalized in this matter of free
school privileges not only by the gen.
aral policy of the various states. but
also by Indifferent. ignorant or
selfish parents, who fail to do their
duty to their own children in allow
ing them to remain out of school while
school is in session.
Determinations Are Injustice.
"The lack of equal school privileges
for the farm boy and the farm girl as
compared with the school privileges
provided for the city boy andathe city
girl, in length of school term, in equip
ment, in professional supervision, and
in the qualification of teachers, are in
Justices that might have been tolerated
in despotism, but are determinations
that should have no place in the gov
ernment of the people, by the people,
and for the people.
"If the rural school attendance
were raised from 67.6 per cent-the
average daily attendance in the rural
public schools of the United States
to 90.6 per cent, the average daily at
tendance in the rural public schools of
Oregon, it would mean an increase of
the rural school term in effect and in
the aggregate for the country at large
of % per cent"
There are rural school districts in
California, according to Mr.. O'Brien,
with only 50-day school term. He
says Colorado has only n 55-day school
term, Illinois, Al days; Iowa, 40 days;
North Dakota, 20 days; South Dakota,
so days; Tennessee, 55 days, and
Texas, 80 days. He says there are
other states in which the campaign for
a longer rural school term should be
winged in and Out of Seacnn