THE PROBLEM FOB THE RURAL SCHOOL it 9 



of what ought to be done for every country community. The state 

 should probably take the lead, as Ohio is doing in her rural school 

 survey, and make a complete study of the whole of her rural life. Until 

 this is done, the school and the church will cling to tradition, and the 

 broad cultural side of life on the farm will be neglected. And so long 

 as this is neglected, that long will the social reason for deserting farm 

 life exist, and the drift to the city continue. 



If it is not in the province of the rural school to assist in the solu- 

 tion of these problems, by giving to the children a proper understanding 

 of the rural conditions, by providing a center for the social and intel- 

 lectual life of the community, then all its traditional procedure, all its 

 narrowness which is being so broadly criticized, is justified and repre- 

 sents eflSciency. Or putting it another way, if the government, which 

 theoretically exists of, by and for the people, does not attempt to meet 

 these destructive tendencies in our national life, it is following an out- 

 worn social and political philosophy. And if the state does try to 

 meet them, and does not use the rural school as a means to that end, it 

 is ignoring one of the most efficient agencies it has, and one whose very 

 meaning as an institution rests in its capacity to render this broad social 

 and intellectual service to farm life. 



The problem of the rural school is therefore the problem of the rural 

 people. It is not as narrow as a book, but it is as broad as life. The 

 school must accept its share in these large social, economic, and intel- 

 lectual responsibilities, and stand ready to assist in the execution of a 

 broad constructive social policy, whose aim it shall be to make rural 

 life not merely tolerable, but wholesome and attractive. 



