Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1917-06-08

Let me draw you a mental picture
Of what a country schoolhouse
should be. In the first place the
country child must have as good an
opportunity for education as the
city child. Why does a city child
need two months more Of schooling
in the year than the country childi
Why does teacher in the city, who
is given a definite piece OF work to
do, need more professional knowl-
edge than the one who takes up
work in the country school and has
often to teach all the subjects in all
the gradesl The country school
term should be as long as the city
one, and every child in the country
should have the opportunity to at
tend school as many days in the
year as the city child. In fact, the
cities should have a longer school
term. The Commission sent from
Germany to study American schools
opened its report with the statement
that the chief feature OF the Amer
lean school system is the vacation.
The county schools of Ontario are
open 225 days in the year, OF Ger
many, 225 to PAS days, and in Aus
,ralia and New Zealand they are
open $50 days. The school term in
the United States is shorter than
the term in the Philippine Islands
or Porto Rico, although in those
places there is a long term for a
few rather than a shorter term for
all. Your negro children in Mary
land go TO school 40 days in the
year. Why should negro children
require less than the white? 1t
seems remarkable that those who
iced the most should get the least
Secondly, all children should at
tend school when it is in session,
except for a good reason, and if the
money appropriated for the purpose
Of holding the schools is not used,
| advise getting out an injunction. "
There is waste in employing a
teacher to instruct 80 children when
only 20 children attend, and an in
Justice involved ,when the children
who attend regularly are kept back
by the laggards who come only now
and then. The children in de
mocracy have the right to an edu-
cation which will prepare them for
The duties and rights Of citizenship,
and to make an honest living. They
have a right to be developed into
well-rounded human beings, and if
there are parents avaricious enough
to wish to make their children their
slaves, some one must protect the
rights of the child. The sentiment
must be made so that man will
hide his head as if for a crime il
he does not send his child to schoo
when he can, and thus take away
the child's opportunity for acquir
ing what will fit him for the bes
kind of citizenship and for intelli
gent living, for the sake OF a littl'
profit.
The third requisite for the gooC
school is of course the good teach
er, 'the seed-corn of civilization.
The farmer is willing to buy seed
wheat at two OF three times a
much as biscuit wheat. "Whatso
ever man soweth that shall h,
also reap" holds good in the cas-
of the school teacher. The mex
| generation OF children will not b
much better or wiser than til,
teachers. The School improvement
Associations should help raise tn,
standard for leadership.
Think OF the contrast between
the city and the country schoo
teacher in point of organization anc
superyision,-the aid rendered tn,
city teacher by superintendent
principals, ETC., the country teach
er's practical isolation, visited onll
seldom by the County Superinten
dent. To become a city teacher
one must be a graduate of a high
school and of a normal school, anC
in some places have a year of prac
tice sometimes on the country
children) before taking the class
And yet the teacher in the country
school, who must do so many more
and different things, must render SC
much more in the way of service
Of all kinds, has less preparation
than the city teacher for her inn
portant work. AT the tender age OF
eighteen, often, with very little
professional knowledge, she is sup
posed to have the power OF leader
ship in the community, to be able
10 teach all subjects in all grades
and to be her own Board of Educa-
ton, Superintendent and Supervi-
sor. The teacher in the country
school should have as good an edu-
cation and as much strength and
power as those anywhere else.
There must be high schools with
in reach of all country children. We
must set our faces towards the goal
Of high-school education for ev-
cry country child. In the city there
are other means Of education and
development offered, classes in the
Young Mems and Young Women's
Christian Associations, continuation
classes, night schools, etc. AS re-
CARDS industrial and vocational edu-
cation there is far more need for
scientific training in the country
than in the city. There must be in
formation as to the chemistry Of the
soil, the plants to cultivate and
those to destroy, the life history Of
the various animals that help feed
the population, etc. Courses are