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 



