Rural education; a complete course of study for modern rural schools

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Preface

This book is the outgrowth of a series of lectures on Rural School Organization in the Minnesota state summer schools for teachers and of several revised courses of study planned for and executed in rural schools under the supervision of the author.

While there are many books that treat of school organization and management, but few, if any of them, are written from the modern standpoint of an industrialized rural school; that is, a redirected course of study in which a broader and better country life is the ultimate aim. Except from this point of view the academic outlines and discussions probably contain little that is new. Even the division plan to avoid the evils of a closely graded rural school is not entirely an innovation. That some plan to avoid the thirty or forty daily recitations usually found in the country schools must be put into active operation before real efficiency can be expected is admitted by all who are familiar with the situation. The plan here suggested is not mere theory. It has been successfully used by scores of teachers during the last half dozen years. After all, "As is the teacher so is the school."

In this period of educational unrest there is need for something more definite to guide the inexperienced teacher who has so little direct supervision, especially the rural schoolteacher. In this connection the section of the book devoted to industrial work should prove helpful.

Finally, rural education is broader than the curriculum of the schoolroom, which fact the author has tried to emphasize in some of the chapters in the first and last sections of the book. Rural teachers, normal training classes, farmers' clubs and reading circle organizations should be benefited by discussions of some of the topics here suggested. If in some small way the book may be an inspiration to those who are laboring for the upbuilding and ennobling of rural life, it will not have been in vain.

Acknowledgments are cheerfully given to all those who have in any way assisted in the preparation of the book. Thanks are especially due to my colleagues, Mr. L. E. Stock well for assistance in the chapter on "Manual Training"; Miss Marie Henegren for much valuable aid in preparing the chapters on "The Hot Lunch" and "Sewing in Rural Schools"; and Mrs. L. A. Bortel for suggestions on the music outlines.

Gratitude is also extended to Mr. Lorenzo Zwickey, art supervisor and lecturer, for his generous aid in preparing the outlines on "Art"; Mr. J. B. Frear and the Minnesota College of Agriculture for kind permission to select material from Bulletin 136 for the rope work given in Chapter XVII; Miss Alma B. Campbell and Mr. Carl Anderson, superintendents of Dodge and McLeod Counties, Minnesota, respectively, for the loan of numerous industrial booklets; and to the numerous friends who have read various chapters and offered valuable suggestions.

A. E. PICKARD.

Cokato, Minnesota, May, 1915.

Contents

Proper Environment Page

I. Introduction 9

II. Some Suggestions for Parents and Teachers 19

Chapter I Introduction

The average reader omits the preface of a book and seldom reads the appendix. Hence, much of what might properly be placed in these divisions has been included in the regular chapters.

Most books of this kind are of very general nature. Our purpose is to supplement those already available with more definite suggestions and outlines for programs and courses of study not only for the academic work, but also for the so-called industrial work, some of which is now demanded in nearly every community.

During the last few years education has assumed new aspects, which are reflected from the courses of study. The answers of students and parents as to what constitutes an education and why certain courses are pursued are interesting. Usually the laboring man wishes his children to be educated so that they will not have to work as hard as he had. The well-to-do desire education for culture and social distinction. Others see the vocational side only. Too often the teacher's idea is to cram the students' memories with facts from books. Without further discussion we might define education as preparation for life.

It should be remembered that the school is only one factor in education, and, important as it is, without the co-operation of the home and the church, the needs of the child will not be properly supplied. The world has seen many an educated man who has had little or no schooling, while some college graduates are sorely in need of education.

The different units of our system of education in America have been too dependent upon one another; that is, the aim of the elementary school has been preparation for the high school; the high school has prepared for college, and so on. This routine is perhaps not so true of the average high school the last ten or twenty years, as the greatest changes in the courses of study have occurred in these schools; but it is still true in the great majority of rural schools. At least their courses of study have not yet been adjusted to meet the needs of the community and to make education a preparation for life.

The tremendous importance of new adjustment can be realized when we reflect that ninety-five per cent of our population have received their education, as far as the schools are concerned, in the elementary school, most of them in the rural school.

We appreciate that the necessities of the people of a century ago, or even of twenty-five years ago, are not the needs of the present generation; but we have been slow to adjust the schools to the new conditions. The three R's will no longer meet the needs of society or business. With the demand for more subjects to be taught in the elementary school as well as in the high school comes the necessity of reorganizing not only our courses of study but the units that make up our educational system and the mechanics of the schoolroom. Our hard and fast graded system has some advantages, but many disadvantages. . It could be tolerated in our town and city schools, if it were not for the fact that the rural schools are trying to imitate the city schools. The author has made a study of the rural school

INTRODUCTION 11

problem for the last few years in his work in summer training schools for teachers, and has found a great many cases where one teacher has not only attempted to conduct eight grades, but has actually been trying to run a kindergarten as well; that is, she has had a sub-first grade or chart class. In some cases so-called high school work has been done also. Elimination, combination, and alteration will at least partially help to cure some ills of the rural school.

In commenting on the American school system some one has made the remark that no sane person would have planned it as it now exists. Who has determined that it should take just eight years to complete what is known as the elementary school, four years for the prescribed high school course, four for college, and then, for the few who can afford the time and means, from one to four years more in some technical school to fit them for their vocations? How came we to have eight grades in our elementary schools? Was it a gradual evolution based upon sound philosophy and pedagogy? On the contrary, the history of education will show that it has come about by chance. The early New England schools were conducted by the clergy. These later developed into our present intermediate grades, the fundamentals being given in the homes. Later the primary schools systematized the home training and prepared for the earlier established schools. Then the academies were founded, and as it became evident that the elementary schools did not fully prepare those who could attend the higher institution, the grammar schools came into existence to meet this defect. The academies were organized, of course, to prepare students for the colleges, then few in number.

Thus it can be seen that from the beginning each unit was made the stepping-stone for that immediately following, and it is only natural that that idea has remained so long.

From these units, having their origin in different ways and at different times, have come our three divisions of the elementary public school, primary, intermediate, and grammar, a grade for each year; the academy is represented by the public high school; and the state universities and denominational colleges have adopted largely the organization and curricula of the earlier endowed institutions, as Harvard, King's College, now Columbia, and William and Mary's.

It is said that there are over eighteen millions of students in the United States, and about one half a million teachers, an average of about one for every three dozen pupils. Many teachers have more than this number. An average animal trainer will be given about one twelfth as many at one time, and the most valuable animals have two or three trainers. This is not because horses, for example, are thought to be more valuable than children, but because we have not yet learned to value the training of children.

While, perhaps, it is not the most important, it is well for us to remember the economic side of education. If the parent could be made to realize that each day in school is actually worth dollars to the child, we should not have need for compulsory attendance laws.

Comparing an estimate of the average earning capacity of an elementary school graduate with a high school graduate we find the former capable of earning about two hundred and forty dollars the first year, and the latter about six hundred. It can readily be seen that the sum which put at interest at six per cent will produce the annual earning capacity, will represent the value of the earner. In the case of the elementary school graduate this would be four thousand dollars. This sum probably also represents the average of the grade graduate over the uneducated person. The estimate is for only the first few years after school life. In

INTRODUCTION 13

the case of the high school graduate the acquired capital would be equal to ten thousand dollars. Counting one hundred and eighty days to the year, the grade pupil would accumulate capital at the rate of $2.77 a day for eight years, and the high school pupil, at the rate of $8.44 a day for four years. A high school graduate, therefore, has laid away a working capital of $4.63 a day for twelve years. Approximately the same relative increase of earning capacity would be true for normal and college graduates. It should, therefore, be clear that education has a money value, and it is shortsightedness on the part of parents to allow children to remain out of school. If the parents were actually receiving this amount in wages for the attendance of their children at school, the solution of the problem would be easy. Instead, it takes the form of an annuity for the children themselves. Parents, as a rule, are not yet altruistic enough in this respect.

An authority has stated that about three fourths of the students leave school before finishing the common branches. About one third of these leave because poor circumstances at home do not permit their attendance at school, while two thirds leave because they and their parents do not find what they want in the schools. The school authorities must meet these conditions squarely and adjust the schools to their environment. The practical trend in modern education should help to solve the problem.

Comparatively few schools are run on a business basis. It is the duty of the board of education to attend to the finances of the district. Too often members are elected who know little of business principles and less of pedagogical precepts. As soon as school boards come to see that it is wise for them to look after financial affairs only, leaving the management of the school, the ordering of necessary supplies, etc., to the teacher, or superintendent where there is one, there will be at least one step toward more efficiency. If the teacher is not big enough for these responsibilities, one should be secured who is. I have known schools to wait weeks for supplies, because some board member thought it was his right and honor to order supplies that the teacher might have obtained in a few days. Board members should remember that they do not suddenly become educational experts merely because they happen to be elected to the board of education. A certain member of a high school board of education a few years ago could neither read nor write. While this is an exceptional case, it is, nevertheless, true that communities should show more interest in their schools and use more care in the selection of their officers. More than one school board has had to go out after citizens to get a quorum at the annual school meeting. It is only when one of the periodic "fights" is on in the district that the full voting strength is out. The county board for governing rural schools is gaining ground, and should relieve the present situation materially. Probably few board members would admit that they are responsible for part of the inefficiency found in the schools; but teachers realize the true situation even if the board members do not. Such conditions are not confined entirely to rural schools, but are usually better in independent districts.

In the commercial world the watch word is efficiency. Every piece of machinery is made with that in view. Every worker must come up to a certain standard. Educational efficiency has been the recent slogan. It would seem that there is much room for improvement in this particular, especially in the rural schools. One has only to check the time wasted in the mechanics of the schoolroom, the poorly arranged programs of many young teachers, aimless seat-

INTRODUCTION 15

work and study programs, to say nothing of the ill-adapted courses of study for country students, to realize the opportunity for increased efficiency in the rural schools. If only ten per cent of the cost of the schools of the country could be saved by increased efficiency, it would mean a saving of about one hundred millions of dollars annually. It is a matter that manufacturing establishments would investigate. Schools cannot afford to overlook it. This amount spent on better equipment and increase of teachers' salaries would further increase the efficiency. It is not cheaper, but better schools that the average community should have. School boards and teachers should take this view into consideration. A subject that should be discussed in every school district until all voters and taxpayers understand it, is how the school funds are raised and to what sources the taxes paid by each individual go. These facts should be taught in the schools and discussed at the annual school meeting, farmers' clubs and other gatherings. Many invariably charge up any increase in taxes to the schools, whether they may or may not have been the cause of it. A statement from the county auditor will show just where the money paid in taxes goes. Each teacher should get this list from her district, and make it the basis for supplementary work in arithmetic. The following is a tabulation for a rural district in Minnesota in 1914.

LOCAL TAXES.

To What Sources. Rate on Valuation.

State revenue 3.8 mills

State school fund 1.23 mills

County revenue 2.53 mills

County road and bridge 2.85 mills

County poor 29 mills

Town revenue (township) 9 mills

Town road and bridge 5.9 mills

Local tax 5.00 mills

Total taxes 22.5 mills

From this table it can be seen that part of the taxes goes to the state, part to the county, part to the township, and the rest to the school district. In the above case it was about equally divided among the four. The figures naturally vary a little from year to year, but the sources to which the taxes are paid remain the same. Knowing the assessor's valuation of the property, any student who understands simple decimals can determine the amount paid to each source. It is well to be able to compare what the local district raises for the support of the schools with the money received from other sources for this purpose.

Most states provide aid for the schools in some way. Minnesota is one of the most conspicuous in this respect. A wise provision in the state constitution set aside sections sixteen and thirty-six of each township as school lands. These lands with the timber on them have now mostly been sold and the money has made a permanent school fund. Recently iron ore has been discovered on school lands and the royalties from this will increase the school fund enormously. This fund is now second only to that of Texas and amounts to about twenty-five millions of dollars. It is estimated that it will eventually reach two hundred or two hundred and fifty millions. The interest on this, now amounting to about one million dollars annually, is apportioned to the districts of the state according to the number of students in the district coming up to certain requirements prescribed by the state authorities. This amount is now about six dollars per pupil.

There are other forms of aid in. this state by legislative enactment for the various classes of schools. State high schools now receive $1,800 annually, with from $1,200 to $2,800 extra for those having teachers' training departments. Twelve hundred dollars is given for one teacher, $2,000 for

INTRODUCTION 17

two teachers, and $2,800 for three. Graded schools receive $600, and $100 for each grade teacher in excess of four and $250 for each high school teacher. Total aid not to exceed $1,300.

Rural schools in session at least eight months receive $150 for each teacher holding a first class certificate. Rural schools in session at least seven months receive $100 for each teacher holding a second class certificate.

Each school receives, in addition to other aid, library aid amounting to $10 for each teacher employed, with a maximum of $25 to a building, provided the district appropriates a like amount for the same purpose.

In many schools the local districts do not pay half the running expenses of the schools. The following statement of a rural district shows this.

Sources Amount

Apportionment, 50 students at $7 $350

State Aid, first class school 150

State Aid, associated 50

State Aid, library 10

Total state aid $560

Local school tax, two and one half mills 192

Total resources $752

In its report to the Educational Association at St. Paul, October, 1914, the Minnesota Rural School Commission recommended that:

"Every child in the state of Minnesota has an unquestioned right to equal school privileges regardless of wealth, social position or location.

That the State Aid at present only reaches the schools best able to help themselves, and that the most needy schools not able to meet requirements for state aid are taxed to help the more fortunate, the county unit should be used as a basis for taxation for school purposes and that the finances, length of term, kind of teacher, etc., be in the hands of a county board of education, elected at the annual school meeting and consisting of one member from each commissioner di,strict, leaving each district intact for the details of its own management. The County Superintendent to be appointed by this Board.

That consolidation has been an unqualified success in nearly every case and that it should be encouraged by every possible means at command, wherever conditions are such as to make it practicable. Finally this Commission has found that the rural schools have better equipment, better sanitation, better grading, better attendance, longer school year, better co-operation, broader and more practical knowledge, better and more libraries, more free textbooks, more attractive school rooms, better buildings, more State Aid, higher salaries, better teachers, better supervision, the training of the hand through industrial work, domestic science, agriculture, manual training, better morals and more loyal friends than ever before."

This would seem to be a more equitable distribution of school taxes. In some states, as California, the school tax is uniform throughout the commonwealth.

Chapter II Suggestions For Parents And Teachers

There is urgent need for closer co-operation between parents and teachers. Very often the success of a school is measured by the sympathy of its supporters. Teachers should move into a new community before school opens, in order to become acquainted with the parents of all their pupils. Some teachers object to doing this on the ground that it is contrary to social etiquette. This notion is likely to result in sorrow, if the teachers meet the parents for the first time after they have had to punish the children. If teachers object to making social calls before meeting the parents, they should make professional calls. A favorable acquaintance must be established as soon as possible, if the best results are to be attained.

Parents should be equally interested with the teacher in the school and the training of their children. An informal gathering at the schoolhouse or some home shortly after school opens tends to promote acquaintance and sympathy. The school children should be present also. Such a meeting will encourage the teacher at the start and make her feel at home in the community. But mutual interest should not end there.

Regular meetings of parents and teachers at the school house are helping to solve many problems. These meetings should be held at intervals of about once a month and consist of programs and discussions, and may be followed by light refreshments and a social hour. In most places teachers must take the initiative in this work, and should be prepared to do so.

Parents often do not realize how much help they can give the teacher and that without this aid they impede the progress of their own children. Children are allowed to criticise the teacher at home and with other children. Sometimes the parents even join in the criticism. It is conceded that at the outset parents and teachers have only the welfare of the child at heart. Both should keep this common interest constantly in mind, and, when little difficulties arise, as they always will, it is the duty of the parents, as well as of the teacher, to see that they are speedily adjusted.

A prominent educational lecturer and writer makes the statement that the average school has better discipline than the average home, and he is undoubtedly correct. Yet the parents who cannot manage their children at home are the very ones who usually make the most trouble when discipline is administered in school. I like the philosophy of that parent who told his children that every time they got a "lickin' " at school, they would get another when they got home. He didn't stop to inquire whether they were right or wrong, but he had faith in the teacher.

Corporal punishment should be used only as a last resort either in the home or school, but that parent or district that prohibits its use is unwise, as there are always children to whom physical force makes a stronger appeal than reason. Granting that there is always some other way out of the situation, if the teacher only knew how, there are times when the best interests of the school will not permit further experimentation. The parent who will deny the teacher the use of the same methods he uses in correcting his children is unjust and arbitrary. A wholesome, oldfashioned spanking properly administered, never hurt anybody who deserved it, and often did much good.

On the other hand, punishment should be used with great discretion. The best teachers seldom have to resort

SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS AND TEACHERS 21

to it. A case or two at the beginning of an administration will usually suffice. A good rule for both parents and teachers to follow is, "Never punish a child while you are angry." It is a serious offence to make discipline a personal matter, and yet many persons do. A quiet, earnest talk will often do as much or more good than punishment. Punishment should be followed not only with respect for authority on the part of the child, but there should be the best personal feeling between the persons concerned. This result is not always easy to obtain, but it is a pretty sure test of the efficacy of the punishment. One child under school age used to thank the parent after each of these little "times," as he would for any other service rendered. There was usually not the slightest enmity, and the frequency of the occasions became less as he advanced in years.

The best way to avoid mischief and punishment is to arouse the pupil's interest in his studies and especially in collateral activities such as school gardens, care of an animal or the investigation of some valuable facts. Unruly boys, when thus engaged, have often become forceful and progressive factors in a community and the delight of a teacher. They are generally not so bad as that their energies have not been directed into congenial channels.

The responsibility of the parent in the training of the child before it enters school cannot be too strongly emphasized. Some children are spoiled before they are a year old. That is, they have learned to have their own way, because the parent unwittingly compromises or gives in entirely to save time and bother. Between a fond mother and an indulgent father, many a child is handicapped for life, and there is usually trouble in store for the teacher. It has been said that every woman should have a course in psychology and child study that she may properly train her own children. It may be said with equal truth of the men. Too often the mother is the only disciplinarian in the home. The father is away, or too busy, or indifferent. Occasionally a well meaning but misguided parent actually encourages that "smarty" spirit that is now so common among young Americans, on the plea that it develops originality and independence. If there is one thing needed more than any other in the training of the present generation, it is the proper respect for constituted authority in the home, the school, and elsewhere.

Again, parents are sometimes not careful to use the same methods in training the children. What the father requires in certain cases is not carried out by the mother in his absence, and vice versa. In this way it is easy for the child to set up two standards of discipline, or " behavior" as he calls it, and it may lead to deceitfulness on his part. Matters are still further complicated if the teacher uses her own characteristic methods. Here is another reason why the teacher should be intimate enough with the parents to be able to discuss these matters freely with them.

Directions to children should be positive. Speak once and be sure that you are understood. The careless, ineffective way in which many suggestions are given accounts for the fact that some persons are taken only half seriously. Directions are too frequently repeated two or three times in order to secure obedience. Have you ever been in a home where you felt like taking matters into your own hands? Are you sure you have never seen similar conditions in the schoolroom? This state of affairs is not the fault of the children in either case.

Education is an evolutionary process, an unfolding, constant development. The old idea of "pouring in" is supposed to be changed to the "drawing out" process. The

SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS AND TEACHERS 23

brain is made up of millions of small living particles, cells, each capable of development under certain conditions, better at certain ages of the individual than others, and very much less capable after a certain age. Just as the muscles of the body develop with use and shrink away with lack of exercise, so the cells of the brain must be used, and a person must do mental work in order to develop them and to maintain their development. As it is difficult for elderly persons to learn a new language, because they have passed the age for that kind of training, so it is impossible for a young child to study algebra or grammar, because it has not yet reached the age for reasoning. Yet, knowing these principles, how many of us put them into practice? The students do not know their lessons and the teacher recites for them, that is, she does the talking. Parents work the "examples" for children so they may get one hundred per cent in arithmetic at school the next day. Is this the drawing out process? How many brain cells have been developed? Undoubtedly some, but not the kind that should be developed.

Science has demonstrated that mental development is dependent upon physical. A sound mind can be produced only in a healthy body. Good health is, therefore, one of the first requisites in education. Games and outdoor sports should be provided not only in public parks and school grounds, but, if possible, in every home yard. Parents sometimes object to having children waste time in play and say they can find plenty of work at home for them to do. There are chores to do, and the woodpile needs replenishing or there are floors to scrub. Those who object to organized play as exercise and recreation, should remember there is much truth in the old saying, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Games, outdoor life, and good health are so closely related to each other and to mental development that they will be discussed fully in the next two chapters.