Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-11-22
RURAL SCHOOLING
BY H. Addington Bruce

T n connection with Education Week there
| is sure to be much discussion of rural
schooling in the United States. 1t is
gratifying to know that, however backward
many communities still may be, there has Of
late years been apprectable progress in the
waybf eQualizing the school opportunities of
children in urban and rural districts.
Despite the drift to cities, many people
will be surprised to learn, there are today
almost as many country children as city
children. The former, ON basis of the 1920
census figures, constitute not less than At
per cent of the entire school population of
the United States.
Were conditions what they used to be-
Comparatively few of these millions of coun-
try children would receive other than 'it-
tie red SchOolhouse" education, That is the
vast majority would have to be content with
a distinctly elementary education, in schools
having only one teacheS, and that teacher
usually unprepared for his or her work.
Today the little red schoolhouse is nom
existent or almost nonresident in wide areas.
In those areas it stands empty or converted
to other uses, while the children who in ear
lier days would have trudge1 YEARLY to it
are carried in motor buses to a "consoli-
dated school, in some village or small town
q few mics from their homes.
They are given high school as we'll as ele-
mentary school facilities. They are in the
are of teachers with technical training. And
far more frequently than in the past they are
inspired to seek the higher education of col
leges and universities.
"Since 1910" according to Katherine M.
Cook, specialist in rural education, "the
movement for consolidating schools has
grown over a wide extent of territory, cover
ing the country more or less intensively.
I'm number of states in which consol1da-
ton has not made favorable progress in the
| oil hi a1 hnU
! done so. systematic work is being done,
statewide in extent, to promote either the
extent of the movement, of the quality of
the work done in the consolidated schools, or
both.
Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Oklahoma, Penn
sylvania and Wisconsin are among those
which are very active and report number OF
good consultations in progress
Altogether there are now over 10000 con-
solidated schools in the rural and small town
districts of the United States. It would
hardly do. however, to infer that the difficult
problem of rural schooling is already we'll
nigh solution. If real advances have been
made much remains to be achieved.
The city child still has a marked adVan-
tage over the country child in the way of the
teaching personnel, in part no doubt because
country teachers paid much less than
the teachers in city schools. Also the shooI
term of the city child is longer than that of
the country child, the latter having an aver
age of only SO days of attendance per year,
as compared with average attendance of
143 days &C. the city child
And while nearly so per cell of city chill
dren oiled in schools a. in average daily
attendance, - er cent of country chill
dren attend school with regularity. Mani
testify. country children still are far from
being given full educational opportunity.
Nevertheless, in view of recent achievement,
it seems certain that their interests will be
increasingly safeguarded.