THE TEACHER'S COTTAGE 



tries, Germany, France, Denmark and Switzerland to furnish resi- 

 dences for the teachers, who are employed by the year, and often 

 spend a lifetime in the same school. 



In Denmark, for example, the law requires that all rural teach- 

 ers be provided with free homes, which are kept up and heated at 

 public expense. The United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin 

 1913, No. 58, "The Educational System of Rural Denmark/' says: 



"Country teachers are all provided with free homes. These 

 range from three-room suites in the case of unmarried women 

 teachers to seven or eight rooms for married men. The suites 

 are built, as a rule, in connection with the main school building, 

 using either the second floor or a wing on the first floor. Where 

 more than one teacher lives in the building each suite of rooms 

 invariably has its own separate entrance. This system of 

 teacher housing is very successful and means much for the 

 teacher and for community leadership. 



Another thing of interest is that all teachers are entitled 

 under the law to a garden. This is planned and planted to 

 shrubbery and fruit at community expense. The garden may 

 vary from a small lot to nearly an acre of ground. In a few 

 instances women teachers accept a sum of money in lieu of the 

 garden. Not alone do the gardens supplement the teachers' 

 incomes, but they are often used as experimental plats for the 

 schools as well. 



Such schools provided as they are for housing the teachers 

 and making their lives attractive and wholesome, naturally 

 become the rallying centers for all community activities." 



A sketch of the arrangement of class-room, living quarters, play- 

 grounds and gardens in a typical one-teacher rural school in Den- 

 mark is shown on page 8. 



In Switzerland, every large schoolhouse includes a residence 

 for the janitor, and the country schoolhouses are also homes for 

 the teachers. On this subject, the United States Bureau of Edu- 

 cation, Bulletin 1913, No. 56, "Some Suggestive Features of the 

 Swiss School System/' says: 



"In external architecture there is usually a successful effort 

 to make the building harmonize with its surroundings. Especi- 

 ally in the country there is a refreshing simplicity and dignity 

 about the schoolhouse. Since the janitor or the teacher lives 

 at the schoolhouse, it is never characterized by the neglect 

 evident in so many American country schoolhouses, which are 

 deserted for several months in the year. The teacher's garden 

 and the pot plants in the windows of his dwelling upstairs 

 give the school a homelike atmosphere, in marked contrast to 

 that which is too common with us. The plans and cuts of 

 schoolhouses which are exhibited herewith are fairly typical 

 of what was found in the Cantons visited." 



Illustrations of typical Swiss country school buildings are shown 

 on page 10. 



One of the principal points of rural school improvement urged 

 by Dr. P. P. Claxton, United States Commissioner of Education, 



Page Nine 



