28 CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS 



question are perhaps three: first, to secure a 

 modern school, in efficiency somewhat compar- 

 able to the town school, without unduly increas- 

 ing the school tax; second, so to enrich the 

 curriculum and so to expand the functions of 

 the school that the school shall become a vital 

 /and coherent part of the community life, on the 

 one hand translating the rural environment 

 into terms of character and mental efficiency, 

 and on the other hand serving perfectly as a 

 stepping-stone to the city schools and to urban 

 careers; third, to provide adequate high-school 

 facilities in the rural community. 



The centralization of district schools and the 

 transportation of pupils will probably prove to 

 be more nearly a solution of all these difficulties 

 than will any other one scheme. The plan per- 

 mits the payment of higher wages for teachers 

 and ought to secure better instruction; it permits 

 the employment of special teachers, as for nature- 

 study or agriculture; it increases the efficiency 

 of superintendence; it costs but little, if any, 

 more than the district system; it leaves the 

 school amid rural surroundings, while intro- 

 ducing into the schoolroom itself a larger volume, 

 so to speak, of world-atmosphere; it contains 

 possibilities for community service ; it can easily 



