FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 35 



TUESDAY EVENING. 



CHANGES DEMANDED IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF 

 RURAL COMMUNITIES. 



HON. L. D. HARVEY^ SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, MADISON^, 



WISCONSIN. 



It is well at the outset to consider the conditions of education that 

 now exist in our rural communities. Are they what they ought to be? 

 Are they what the boys and girls of the country districts have a right to 

 expect? Are they such as will fit these boys and girls to meet the 

 problems of life? 



I take it that in general we may say that these conditions are not 

 what modern life demands. I do not know just what your situation i» 

 here in Michigan relative to this question, but I am fairly familiar with 

 conditions in Wisconsin, and I suspect that the two states are much 

 alike in this respect. I have no hesitation in saying that judged by our 

 Wisconsin conditions, the rural schools are not offering the opportuni- 

 ties to boys and girls that the twentieth century demands. 



I know that it is frequently said that the great leaders in the city came 

 from the country and the argument is made that, therefore, the country 

 schools are responsible for these great men. We look at some noted 

 examples of wonderful success, and argue that this success is due to the 

 little red schoolhouse. This is an example of the false logic that my 

 friend Pattengill spoke about this afternoon. I say that this success 

 has not come because of the little red school house, but in spite of it. I 

 will admit that our great men, most of them, have come from the country, 

 but I claim it is not necessarily the schooling they received in the school 

 house that is responsible for their greatness, but the conditions of country 

 life. The hard work, the necessity for saving, the learning to be indus- 

 trious, and all that sort of thing. 



As I said, I am somewhat at a disadvantage, because I do not know 

 familiarly your Michigan conditions, but over in Wisconsin we have 

 nearly 1,000 schools, each of which has an attendance of ten pupils or 

 less. These schools have the lowest paid teachers that can be obtained. 

 Now these two things, small schools and low paid teachers, are very 

 important factors in the quality of teaching. Take the matter of small 

 schools. Even the best teacher cannot succeed with a small school. 

 Every educator agrees that you must have pupils enough for emulation. 

 You have got to have a school spirit. You have got to have enough 

 enthusiasm in the school to encourage the teacher to do her best; but in 

 a small school the teacher is bound to deteriorate, it cannot be helped. 

 So these two worst conditions — small schools and poor teachers — con- 

 front us. I don't mean to say you look for poor teachers purposely, 

 but you can say to yourselves, "we have a small school and we cannot afford 

 any but cheap teachers," so you hire the cheapest teacher you can find. 



Now the problem is how can better conditions be brought about. I 

 regard it as fundamental that we must certainly change these two condi- 

 tions. In the first place, we must wipe out of existence the small schools 



