The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1928-10-12
HIGH SCHOOLS
ADVANCE WITH
LARGER SCOPE
Public Confidence Assures Sue.
cess in State Under.
takings
GOOD SYSTEM SOUGHT
Rural Schools Problem Is
: Faced by Prescnt-Day
:. = Teachers
GOOD SYSTEM SOUGHT

]. Dickinson, N. D., Oct. 12.-(AP)-
Public education has grown within a
lifetime from rather small affair
TO the states greatest undertaking,
j. NJ. Mcconnell, Minnesota state
commissioner Of education, told dele
gates to tho southwestern division Of
sthc North Dakota Education associa-
.fion1hcre tonight.
From thu simple beginnings in
keeping with earlier times, when the
requirements OF good education for
sthe person in ordinary pursuits were
Satisfied by the ability to read. write
land cipher, to the present, with its
sinfinite demands for technical knowl-
edge and skill, the size Of the states
Undertaking has grown enormously,
,thc Minnesota commissioner declared.
= A broader education is available
today in the local high schools main
Stained in every town and hamlet than
at was possible to get SO years ago in
colleges, he said.
= Helps Rural Students
= Through liberal policy exercised
svariously in the different states, high
.sAchools are now open to residents of
abe rural regions as well as urban
sat relatively low cost" he continued.
ssAThe extent to which education be-
-yond the elementary schools has
tended to become universal is SO
.sfully accepted as not to be fully real
lied. The confidence the American
people have in education and their
.,willingness to pay what it costs,
-givc assurance that the states un-
Unprecedented undertakings will be car
--ried through successfully.
= To build up and maintain an edu-
: cational system Of maximum eff
-ciency at reasonable cost everywhere,
"a system which shall fully meet the
-growing demands of the times, which
ssshall have adequate support and fur
.nish to everyone relatively equal OPP.
~.portunity is the educational problem
= which the state has been assigned for
> solution.
= = 1.-THE problem presented involves,
lin large measure, rural education in
:. Guiding other features of rural life
eas well. The cities, with their great
:. cr wealth and more favorable situa-
! ton, have generally been able to pro-
= vide themselves with the best in edu-
!, cation, while the country, with its
!. scattered population and low valua-
:. ton, has been at disadvantage.
: How to furnish to the country child
as good facilities for obtaining an
education as are easily available to
the city child is at once the most
pressing and difficult problem with
which the state has to deal.
Centralized Departments
"Along with the growing use Of
state funds, have come we'll organic
ed state departments Of education,
to which have been assigned large
responsibility for the performance Of
important duties in school admins
tration and supervision. This de-
velopnlent does not mean that de-
sirable local control Of education is
to be in any way interfered with or
local initiative discouraged. Any
such result would be disastrous, since
education is community concern
and the school is first of all a local
institution. What it does mean is
leadership and direction adapted to
make the schools everywhere more
effective and to unity all educational
efforts in the most desirable manner.
mo feature of the states work in
education is SO well suited as the high
school. Bringing of secondary edu-
cation into the local field represents
the most distinct achievement in the
progress of public instruction under
the direction of the state. The fear
on the part Of some in earlier years
that the high school might be built
up at the expense Of the elementary
work has not been realized. No
recent development in public educa-
tion is more significant than the in
PRODUCTION Of the junior high school."