RURAL AMERICA 



taining all the facilities for the education of urban youth. 

 Men are usually quite conservative in the matter of taxing 

 themselves for public improvements, but there seems to be 

 no disposition anywhere to practice economy when it comes to 

 public education. The result is, in most towns and cities of 

 the present day the schools are among the show places. Dur- 

 ing the past two or three years there has been considerable 

 depression in the business world, and complaint has been quite 

 general. Architects who several years ago had scores of men 

 in their offices have reduced the number to a minimum owing 

 to the great falling off in building operations. But, in the 

 erection of school houses in the towns and cities, there seems 

 to be more activity than ever, which is an indication that 

 Urban America is equipping herself perfectly for the educa- 

 tion of her youth, in spite of financial depression. Now, the 

 rule of Urban America has been, not only to provide first-class 

 school buildings, but, in the second place, to have courses of 

 study that aim adequately to prepare pupils for the work they 

 will be called upon to do when their school life is ended. The 

 tendency, which is nation wide, is to make the curricula more 

 responsive to the requirements of the day. And, thirdly, 

 the teaching profession has been greatly improved, so that 

 today one cannot become a teacher in very many of the public 

 schools of the towns and cities of the country without ade- 

 quate preparation. Thus, along the line of school buildings, 

 courses of study and teachers, town and city schools have 

 taken long strides. But Rural America has, on the whole, 

 not shared in this progress. With her one-room schools, often 

 having unsuitable grounds, with courses of study that in most 

 cases are inadequate and with teachers who frequently go to 

 the country to get experience that they may later teach in 

 towns and cities, Rural America has not kept pace with Urban 

 America in school matters. And what she has done has too 

 often borne the urban stamp. Just as Daniel, in prayer, 

 looked toward Jerusalem, so the country, educationally, has 

 been turning its eyes toward the city. 

 Now, the chief thing that has kept the country back edu- 



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