The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-11-27

There Is an .insistent demand Tor more
and better schools in the. farming COM
munities. Any politician or BFopagan-
dist who, for any purpose, or to sachieyeI
any Interior object, cries out for the.
little red schOolhOuse' expects and gem
orally gets a rise" This condition is
not peculiar to Vermont alone-it exists
the country over. 4 feeling prevails that,
IN the progress of education generally,
the rural communities have not shared
as they should. Colleges and universities
can hardly open their doors wide enough
to admit the throng of young men and
women who would enter. Business and
technical schools are crowded. The high
schools that almost every stable village
maintains have large and growing enroll
ments. The graded and elementary
schools likewise.
But when we turn to the rural school
what a difference? A few pupils OF
grade, gathered in from a wide area; a
teacher, generally a beginner in the work,
often discouraged and homesick: a none
too comfortable school building. meas
ured by modern standards of comfort; q
meagre school equipment, compared to
that Of the village school; a general air
OF lonesomeness and depression. As to
the quality of work done, it surpasses
what might be expected.
The mind i~nvoluntarilv goes back to
the old days. 1t sees a hive we'll filed
with youngsters, some as large. if not
quite so old, as the master that worthy
q bright. alert young man on his way to
the achievement of some profession: a
plant and equipment very modest. but on
q par with academies of the period where
IN the best scholars hoped to round out
their education with a term or two, as
the master did. There was in addition
thus distinct difference from the present.
the district school stood as the hub and
center OF the community and about it cir
cled a large part of the c~ommunity's cur
rent and ultimate interest. 4
Those were the haicyOn days of the Il,
tie. red schoolhouse.' 1t did the work
public education, and for the period 4
it well. WHY the change to present &C.
dItlOns? Are we better or worse of
Can the little red sc~hoolhOuse'' ev,
come back! What Is the ultimate hop
ahead for the rural school?
Let us allow something for the me
lowing influence of time, which invariph
enhances values. Most of us will clair
that the schools of our own period, wha
ever they We're, surpassed those OF ii
present. We didn't regard them veI
highly then, but looking back. We a.
now. The present always suffers by CO..
trast with the past in this way. It
more than likely that parents an
grandparents, out of patience with mo-
ern 'fads and frills' in education, an
mourning for a return Of the good o
days when all there was to it. was Il
three RS and the masters big site
would be the first to cry out if by s1u
magician wand the old school should I
lrestored and their offspring should b
translated to it as pupils. We are, &
fact. adjusted to a different gauge.
1t takes several factors to make a 81.
cessfdi school OF any type. The fir
and uiest important Is the teacher. Rig
1AeTe hats occurred "A great change fr (
former times in respect to the aDpt
made to the rurat teacher by his job. Z.
inUttlt bluntlY4 ,Comparativelv we meal
Typ generatHolgH ago the avenue
aHdRf yeRRA men~-toe get a start SanyrtJs
fWotld were few. Few. of them eutore
college where thousands, supported l.
wealthy parents, now do. and very oft
those who did We're compelled To tea
hetlmes. Ditto those who. sought the Oh
fashioned methods of entering the Pr
mand. as now, by business for young moi
and women as soon as they learn Z
typewriter keyboard. In fact, teaching G
necessity became the avenu up thTour
which journeyed a host of young me
who left a splendid mark behind. Ofthesf
the schools, especially rural, are now b.
reft. The same tyne Of young men daua
less exists, but rural school teaching has D.
attractions for them. They don't hav
to teach. Dad can foot the bills for thei
life preparation, or il not they can choo-
from a WIDE selection OF "OppOrtuutIe
more to their taste and fitting. The rur
sChOOlmastcr is almost a species extinct
Enter the young lady school teachel
Perhaps Just as well qualified scholastic
ally, even better trained, but for all tina
she does not and cannot make the SAM
impression. And the whole situation h-
changed from former times. This giT =
! either a village resident of a farmer
daughter with four years OF village hG I
school hfc fresh in mine IS often out g.
touch and out of sympathy with the lr
that falls to her. She lacks that sen ]
Of keen interest in her work needed t
upbuIld an institution none too flourish
ing at best. 1t Is for her, too otten
merely Il lob. at so much per week, er.
drIred until she can better herself. Tn
ouietude, the lonliness, the deDressi' s
dizziness OF it revolt to one suddenly AZ I
almost completely removed from the moo
ern life i'm town. There are actual hard
ships to be met. In many rural comuuu
tiles a comfortable boarding place for tn
teacher is not available. What some Of
these girls encounter, in occasional eases
does not tend to stimulate their cour
perseverance Of the sex helps thea
through. But they are apt to seek !
change. either in location or IN work, ami
are soon lost to the rural schools.
The problem of the rural school teache
Is perhaps the greatest one that eontron'5
I those engaged in educational work. How
to get teachers well qualified for the task
/ imbued with sufficient enthusiasm to pro
/ duce results. and adequate in number to
man the schools already open. Is taxing
( the authorities in every state IN the I'm
ION. The most feasible solution Is, first
to offer a scale of wages quite beyond