^ FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-^PART VI. 607 



These figures do not include contingent expenses. The average tuition 

 should not be much above $2.25. At this rate a teacher of twenty-five or 

 thirty pupils would receive a salary of fifty or sixty dollars per month. In 

 seeking the remedy for the conditions which the above figures indicate we 

 must bear in mind that the school population of a district varies greatly, 

 being small during a certain period, then increasing in numbers for another 

 period. 



Objections — bad roads — the great and only serious objections to the 

 central school is the difficulty in transporting pupils during certain seasons 

 of the year. 



During the spring the roads are oftea nearly or quite impassable in some 

 localities in this climate. In Scott county the insufficient number of roads 

 is a serious hindrance. Permanent improvement of the highways is a step 

 toward better rural schools. 



In consolidated districts the factor of transportation is much less impor- 

 tant. The formation of consolidated districts should therefore meet with 

 more favor. 



It may be interesting to note the ' 'tendencies" in school legislation as to 

 the system or systems just reviewed during the year 1903. California pro- 

 vided for the formation of union school districts; North Dakota authorized 

 the consolidation of schools, or conveyance of pupils; North Dakota and 

 Minnesota made provisions for allowing adjacent school districts to unite for 

 the support of a graded or high school. 



During the last session of the General Assembly of Iowa, a bill directing 

 the introduction of study of elementary agriculture in the rural schools 

 received serious consideration. In other states efforts have been made with 

 the same purpose in view. I question the advisability of introducing agri- 

 culture as a special branch at this time because the teachers have not given 

 the subject enough attention to enable them to teach it satisfactorily. Al- 

 though it is a fact that the studies of the country pupils scarcely refer to 

 anything that concerns them in their home life or their future work, a pre- 

 mature attempt to have the subject taugtit would succeed only in bringing it 

 into disrepute. 



In some localities the subject is agitated in a manner which, in my opinion, 

 is more apt to meet with success. There the effort is directed toward the 

 establishment of district or county agricultural schools. Two such schools 

 have been established in Wisconsin. Graduates of a school of this kind will 

 be competent to teach the subject successfully, and may be said to be 

 especially qualified to teach rural schools. 



