Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1924-02-09
ONE ROOM SCHOOL
HOUSE MUST GO
Consolidated Rural Schools Must Be
Established Wherever Possible,
Says State Superintendent.

The one-room school house must
go from Wisconsin; it must be re-
placed by consolidated rural schools
wherever possible, according to John
Callahan, state superintendent of
public instruction. The rural school
situation as summarized by Super
intendent Callahan in recent state
ment follows:
There are $500 one-room rural
schools in Wisconsin.
There are / APT rural schools en-
rolling Is pupils or less,
There are 450 rural schools en-
rolling more than 45 pupils.
A total of 160,290 children attend
the rural schools.
There are 5000 teachers in the
state with less than two years
academic and professional training
beyond high school.
Four thousand and two hundred
schools have an eight-month school
year.
Sixteen thousand boys and girls
live in districts where high school
opportunities are not offered.
Seventy-five per cent is the aver
age daily attendance in rural schools.
''This is the indictment against the
one-room school" Superintendent
Callahan said. at is educationally
inefficient. 1t cannot give to the
future citizens of our commonwealth
that fundamental elementary and
high school education which the
civic, social and economic problems
which they must meet, demand.
"The children in the rural districts
are entitled to the same educational
opportunity offered to the children
in urban districts. They are entitl-
ed to an enriched elementary educa-
ton and high school education in a
community school close enough to
them so that they can sleep each
night under the home roof. They
are entitled to the competition and
emulation made possible by assoeia-
ton with large numbers of other
children. They are entitled to
teachers trained in special subjects
such as agriculture, home economics,
manual arts, music and art. They
are entitled to hndergartens. They
are entitled to that social training
which results from acquaintanceship
with many teachers and pupils They
are entitled to the same school year
enjoyed by the children of our cities
and villages. They are entitled to
teachers adequately trained for their
positions.
"How can this be brought about?
Experience proves that when one
room rural schools are merged into
community, centralized schools,
teachers with adequate training are
secured, the curriculum is enriched,
the school year heightened, the aver
age daily attendance increased and
proper grading Of pupils obtained.
wisconsin mas approximately 80
consolidated schools at the present
time. Most of these are in the
northern part of the state where
settlements are newer and Wnefe
local pre- JUDGES have not been built
up. Under our present laws in
order to bring about a consolidation,
each district votes as unit and the
adverse vote Of one district can up
set an entire proposed consolidation.
This is undemocratic. The entire
area proposed for consolidation
should have one voting place. This
should hold true when incorporated
villages or cities are included
"The majority vote on the ques-
ton of consolidation should deter
mine the fate Of the issue. Care
should be taken that Typographical
conditions are favorable. Com
munity centers should be considered
Each rural community has a cents
for its trading area, for its voting
for its church relationship. These
areas are always larger at the time
than the school district. Areas
compact and with close community
relationships should form the basis