CHAPTER IX 



THE RURAL SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 



Among the great phenomena of our time is 

 the growth of the school idea — the realization 

 of the part that the school plays in our civiliza- 

 tion and in the training of our youth for life. 

 Our New England fathers started the school in 

 order that their children might learn to read the 

 Scriptures, and thus that they might get right 

 ideas of their religious duty. Even after this 

 aim was outgrown, our schools for generations 

 did little more than to teach the use of the mere 

 tools of knowledge ; to read, to write, and to 

 cipher were the great gains of the schoolroom. 

 Even geography and grammar were rather late 

 arrivals. Then came the idea that the school 

 should train children for citizenship, and it was 

 argued that the chief reason why schools should 

 be supported at public expense was in order 

 that good citizens should be trained there. 

 History and civil government were put into the 

 course in obedience to this theory. Another 

 step was taken when physiology was added, 

 because it was an acknowledgment that the 



