Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1922-02-11
County Training School Big Factor.

the county training school is from a
recent issue of the Wisconsin Rapids
Tribune:
The county training school is the
most helpful element in the rural
school situation. Most of the children
of the state are receiving their elem
entary school training in the rural
schools said Major Edward \.
Fitzpatrick, secretary of the State
Board of Education in Il brief address
before the Wood County Training
School this morning The quality OF
the American citizenship developed
in these schools will largely depend
upon the character of the rural school
| teacher We must look more and
more to the County Training Schools
for the supply of rural teachers, espe-
/ peciaily if we desire rural teachers
who have the rural point of view, and
interest in rural life, and who look
forward to finding their opportunity
to serve their fellow men through tue
/ country schools.
Primarily for Teachers Training
1.-THE normal schools are primarily
organized to train teachers for city
school systems. In all but one or two
of the normal schools, rural school
/ teaching is mere incident. We would
galnimmensely by adopting program
which would develop the county
training school and rely for all our
rural school teachers on the county
training school supplemented by the
high school teacher training classes.
Must Take New Responsibilities
"Witb the development ofthe rural
high school, and its emphasis of couii.
try life, which will come in this state
in the next few years under State
Superintendent Callahan's stimulat-
ing leadership, the county training
school must be prepared for new res
possibilities and for higher standards
for teachers in the country. With the
development of the project and the
continuation work for boys and girls
between fourteen and twenty actually
al work on farms, and of cOrdinated
work of county agent, county nurse,
and Smith Hughes work, the comfy
training school must accept its call to
rural leadershipin the state, and the
country teacher must become the radi-
ating center of the intellectual, moral
and economic influences. Mr.. G. j.
Anderson of the State Department is
emphasizing this aspect of the pro-
blem in the study of the Courses of
Study he is making"
Need School Contrast
Major Fitzpatrick began his discus
sion by contrasting the condition in
an elementary school of 5000 stud
ents in which be taught IN New York
City, and in high school with $500
students with the condition in the
1000 rural schools in this state, with
ten, twenty or thirty students with
one teacher teaching all the subjects
"If you are looking for vocation, :"
| says Major Fitzpatrick, Sin which
| you can influence human beings and
serve your communities, the greatest
opportunity is in the rural school.
What these children become depends
largely on what you are and what you
do in the classroom. In your hands is
the destiny of the rural manhood and
womanhOod of the state, and that
means the destiny of the state.
The future is determined to coDsid-
cradle degree by what you learn and
do here in the county training school.
And the hopeful thing is that these
county training schools see the great
value of rural life, as the material for
a vital education OF the country boy
and girl. In this way rural education
will become an agency for the recon
struction of rural life. -