54 



county, a oonsolidated rural school in each district of 20 to 36 square miles or one 

 isolated school in each district, will make a system, and country children will have 

 a ladder to climb as do citv children now. 



Obviously, the function nf the agricultural college, and even of the agricultural high 

 school, can" never be to give technical education to the farmers as a whole. These 

 institutions can reach only a relatively small number of people. The function of 

 the agricultural college and agricultural schools of secondary grade in relation to the 

 whole number of those who are to farm nuist he mainly that of preparing teachers 

 and leaders. But this is a most imixjrtant function, and these institutions are grad- 

 ually rising to successfully meet the ])r()blem. They must be greatly increased in 

 size"to prepare a sufficiently large number even for teachers. 



Elementary schools, university extension work, books, and periodicals must be the 

 main agencies for bringing industrial education to the great mass of the people who 

 do not go bevond the elementary school. The rural school is the greatest agency 

 through which to work because it reaches practically all of the youth who are to 

 form the ranks of the farmers in the coming generations. 



Steps that will better prepare the rural schools for giving agricultural instruction, 

 and that will put into pedagogical form that body of thought which is being rapidly 

 wrout^ht out as a suital)le basis for such instruction, have the widest significance. 



The little rural school which has had such a wonderful national influenc'e has not 

 proven well adapted to taking on lines of instruction related to country industries. 

 These studies have two requirements not well met by the little rural school. They 

 can not be given without some equipment, and teachers especially trained in agri- 

 culture and home making are a prime necessity. The consolidated school as devel- 

 oped in northwestern Ohio and in other sections of the country, as compared with the 

 little rural school, offers greater advantages as an institution into which to introduce 

 industrial work. 



Farming communities producing sufficient wealth so that with some State aid they 

 can provide good school equipment and superior teachers and can pay the cost of 

 hauling pupils to and from school can not afford to overlook the advantages of rural 

 school consolidation. Here the first requisite, a teacher trained not only in the 

 common studies but in agricultural sul)jects, can be afforded, usually as the principal 

 of the school. An assistant trained in home economics is also within the range of 

 finant-ial possibilities. The better grading of the school also affords an opportunity 

 to rind a place and time for the introduction of technical subjects. A larger school 

 building makes it possible to find a i)lace for doing laboratory work and i^ractice 

 work. Larger grounds and their equii)ment may afso be provided. Plants, school 

 gardens, orchards, and even small field plats can be had for demonstration and 

 instruction purposes. Simple laboratory apparatus can be afforded for instruction in 

 both agriculture and home economics. 



When viewed as a whole, only a part of this country and Canada can hope to sup- 

 port the consolidated rui-al school. In all thinly populated sections, and in sections 

 where the soil does not yjroduce abundantly, the higher cost of the consolidated 

 school per square mile will make it impracticaljle to change from the isolated school. 

 While the problem of introducing special country life subjects into the little rural 

 school may remain the larger and more important problem because it applies to the 

 larger numl)er of pupils, methods of carrying this instruction to the lower schools 

 may l)est be wrought out in schools with somewhat better organization. It may be 

 that many of the teachers in the little rural school can be in part trained in the 

 larger rural school, as well as i;i county and State schools of agriculture and in nor- 

 mal schools, provided with more or less of instruction in agriculture and home 

 economics. 



There are vast regions where the appropriation of money per square mile tor the 

 support of consolidated rural schools will several times over warrant the additional 

 expense. No universal ])lan can be adoi)ted. Generally speaking, there should be 

 a plat of land, sav 5 or 10 acres, a schoolhouse of three to five rooms, a principal's 

 cottage, and smaU outbuildings. The land might properly be divided with 5 acres 

 for field crops and 5 acres for campus-like area for buildings, shelter belt of trees, 

 plantations of trees and small fruits, gardens of vegetables and fiowers, and also 

 ample i)lavgrounds. The principal sliould be trained to give instruction in agricul- 

 ture, and one of the assistants should be trained to teach in home economics. There 

 should be collected some api>aratus in the building for technical instruction, and a 

 library concerning rural affairs and home making adapted to the needs of the adults 

 of the" community, as well as to the pupils, should be built up. Not a small part of 

 this could be made up of publications from national and State departments of agri- 

 culture. And if a large numl)er of centralized rural schools were so organized as to 

 make good use of such publications, their numbers could no doubt be increased 

 and in some cases designed for specific use by such schools. 



