Milford chronicle., 1925-11-13
DELAWARFS RURAL SCHOOLS

which some years ago reached the
danger point, the background OF the
past and the soil and climate must
be considered. Perhaps they go into
such matters, too, in the knowledge
that pedagogics must keep pace
with changing times and changing
conditions which have been SO
marked in this country during the
past $50 years.
The problem of nOn-attendance
like any other human problem must
be attacked in a common sense way
and this is the way the Coopers
have attacked it. First they learn
ed the nature of the disease; then
they determined the source of the
disase; and finally they prescribed
the remedy. The steps are orderly
and convincing, and go back to the
year 1919, when the first systematic
effort was made to build up the et-
fectiveness of the rural schools
There are in the United States 11O,'
900 one-teacher schools; while II
Delaware such schools house 5S
per cent of all the farm children
What the school authorities want
10 do is to cut down the Al per cent
who are not attending, until the
non-attendance figure is inconse-
uuential. During the past six years
according to the COopers, the at
tendance of one-teacher pupils has
advanced from an average of st
days to an average of 1873 days for
all pupils enrolled. How was this
accomplished? They answer that
the Improvement is attributable to
the establishment of the 1919 state
school system; the stronger efforts
of teachers in the field, supported
by visiting teachers and state school
authorities, and the direct and in
direct influence of what they choose
to call "the new school movement
which it is inferred, is sponsored
by the Service Citizens.
John Stuart Mill in his autObio-
graphy discloses that he was taught
by his father to read Greek at the
age of three, and that at the age OF
seven he was reading the dialogues
of the ancient philosophers in that
language. Plaintively, he said
"The education which my father
gave me was in itself much more
fitted for training me to know than
to do" Mill was born in 1906, and
gallons of water have gone over the
dam since his childhood; and peda-
gOgics have been reVOlutiOnized
Along with Jefferson's ideal con-
cerning the purpose of education, is
the modern ideal which embodieS
the theory that education shall fiji
the young American to do. To be
exact, modern education lays the
foundation for the means of liVel1'
hood for the man or woman to be
And although in the early days Oi
our country we depended on the ru'
raj districts in a larger degree fol
our leaders and manpOwer, there
remains today an important grOuI
of citizens in the country sections
whose children must have thlorC
education. Is our modern schoo
system giving these children the
training they should have? A
striking answer to such a question
is to be found in this volume by
the Coopers. Gratifying advances
have been made; but much is to be
done yet to bring Delaware's rural
schools to their rightful value. By
pointing out conditions as they
exist and by recommending con-
constructive measures for improve
ment, the Coopers, in their cOmpre-
hensive volume, have contributed a
work of immeasurable value to the
state; and all citizens whO are con-
cerned in any degree with the ad-
Vancement of our educational sys-
TENS will find profit in reading it.
W. j. R.