598 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



permanent building is erected in due time. Wliere an expensive per- 

 manent building is built at first and a graded school established, the 

 cost of this better school more than swallows up the saving from con- 

 solidation, and the public mind is sometimes confused and even misled 

 as to the real source of increased expense. 



The chief claim of the free public school system is that it is offering 

 equal opportunities to all. There is, hov.ever, a startling discrepancy 

 between claim and reality. Equal opportunity means equal lengths of 

 school year; it now ranges from six to nine months. It means equal 

 material equipment; it varies now from the most ancient, most poorly 

 constructed, most uncomfortable single-room schoolhouse in the remotest 

 district to the handsomest, test constructed, most completely furnished, 

 most comfortable modern building, in the most accessible location. It 

 means equal supervision; supervision now varies from the single visita- 

 tion of the county superintendent to the closest daily sympathetic aid of 

 the expert supervisor. It means equal teaching ability; this now ranges 

 from absolute incompetency to the highest and most skillful profes- 

 sional proficiency. It means equal facilities for the grades; in the district 

 school there is one teacher in one room with from five to eight grades, 

 teaching from twenty to thirty-five classes; in the town and city schools 

 and in many consolidated schools each grade is provided with a teacher. 

 Equal oppoitunity means equal advantages in every respect. 



The chief cause of this diversity in opportunity is indifference. iSome- 

 how the people have not realized that better things are possible. With 

 the township broken up into small districts, with a small attendance, 

 it is simply out of the question to provide the best educational advan- 

 tages. And it is not a financial question; even with the best material 

 equipment, and the finest teaching ability, the small attendance and the 

 limited community advantages would make it impossible for the small 

 school to accomplish what schools in larger centers accomplish. Under 

 the best conditions directors find it very difficult to secure good teach- 

 ers for these small schools, and they find it impossible to keep these 

 filled with competent, experienced men and w^omen. As a matter of 

 fact, there is a tendency on the part of patrons and directors to minimize 

 the importance of these small rural schools, and to employ for them 

 cheap, inexperienced teachers. And they become mere practice schools, 

 or mere stepping stones to other callings. 



From the above facts, then, we must decide that the best advantages 

 can bo found only in large centers, and that consolidation furnishes the 

 only real solution to the problem. 



Consolidation has passed the experimental stage. It was first operative 

 in Quincy, Mass., in 1874, and since that time "more than 65 per cent of 

 the townships have found it necessary or advantageous to close and con- 

 solidate some schools." 



In 1893 Superintendent Seymour Rockwell wrote: "For eighteen years 

 we have had the "best attendance from transported children; no more 

 sickness among them and no accidents. The children like the plan ex- 

 ceedingly well. We saved the townships at least $600 a year." 



