Fanners' Week in Agricultural College. 303 



excusable hardships with which the teacher of their children must con- 

 tend : the inconvenient and oft-time uncomfortable boarding place, 

 short term of employment, smaller salary than the city teacher whose 

 work is lighter, the poorly equipped schoolhouse, few social pleasures 

 and opportunities. Is it to be wondered that we find the personnel of 

 the country school corps changing almost entirely every three years? 

 Can yon expect to secure well-trained fully developed teachers for your 

 children without considering the factors jast mentioned? Is it not 

 fair to place the responsibility for such conditions where it belongs — 

 with the parents and voters? 



Again ; the small school serves but few people ; it is supported by the 

 taxes raised on a comparatively small amount of property, therefore 

 neither the public interest nor the financial support is likely to en- 

 courage the development of the school. The fact is — although not yet 

 generally understood by those directly concerned — that the average 

 country school, which yields so little, costs the taxpayers anywhere from 

 one hundred per cent to several hundred per cent more than the most 

 elaborate system of city schools. Therefore, because of the facts here 

 cited and other causes, there is not time to discuss, a degree of efficiency 

 in keeping with what modern conditions require of the public school 

 cannot be maintained. 



How acquiescent we are towards that which is customary ! Chil- 

 dren trudge long distances through rain, snow and sleet ; face biting 

 winds; sit all day in an unsanitary house with damp feet and clothing; 

 for what? The majority of parents scarcely realize the serious risk to 

 their children in these long, lonely walks to and from school ; accidents 

 that come from thoughtlessness, the serious consequences from un- 

 guarded associations, exposure during storms — yet they permit such 

 conditions to exist generations after generation. These are the condi- 

 tions under M'hich seventy per cent of Missouri's children secure tlieir 

 education, because these seventy per cent are in the country; thirty-five 

 per cent get less than a fifth grade education ; five per cent only receive 

 a high school education ; there is a tremendous and inexcusable waste 

 of child life in the country through lack of opportunity, yet no class 

 of her youth gives greater promise of usefulness. These children de- 

 serve a right to school privileges in every way equal to those in the best 

 city school systems. Can such advantages be given in the country? 

 Yes, in due time, and in many places by establishing larger ^school units 

 and transporting* children to the central school.** 



♦February, 1910, Bulletin Missouri State Board of Agriculture. 

 **December, 1908, Bulletin, State Normal School, Kirksville. 



