84 FLIGHT FROM THE CITY 



giving them a chance to take advantage of the op- 

 portunities which the schools offered them, they were 

 making excellent progress. Now we were committing 

 ourselves to a way of living which would take them 

 away from the educational advantages of city schools. 

 Should we risk what would happen to them in one of 

 the "little red schoolhouses" which still abounded in 

 1920 in New York State? If we were confronted by 

 such an emergency, would we prove equal to teaching 

 them at home? We decided we would. When I com- 

 pared Mrs. Borsodi to the average school-teacher in 

 the public schools, I saw no reason why she could not 

 teach the children just as well, if not better, at home. 

 She might lack the technique for handling a large 

 class, and she might not have been drilled in the syl- 

 labus required by the state Board of Regents, but 

 when it came to individual instruction, I was confi- 

 dent that she could do more for the children than 

 could public schools, no matter how well managed. 

 When we finally got to the country, our worst 

 expectations were realized. The school in our district 

 was impossible. The school board consisted of "old- 

 timers" whose principal concern was to keep the tax 

 rate down. Not only were the teachers which the 

 board selected unequal to their responsibilities, but the 

 social and moral atmosphere was bad. In that respect 

 it was worse than the city. There at least the contacts 

 of our boys with children whom we considered unde- 

 sirable were limited. And the number of children 

 made it possible to select only those for companion- 



