CHAPTER XIII 



THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 



AN EPIGRAM 1 



T. J. COATES 



' * THE average farmer and rural teacher think the rural school 

 as a little house, on a little ground, with a little equipment, 

 where a little teacher at a little salary, for a little while, teaches 

 little children little things." 



THE STATUS OF THE RURAL SCHOOL 2 



ERNEST BURNHAM 



THE value of the school as an integrating agent in rural com- 

 munity life lies primarily in the success of its work as a school. 

 No single institution can so cheapen rural community life as a 

 poor school, because next to the common industry agriculture 

 the school is the greatest mutual interest. Besides doing what 

 it is specifically directed to do interpret to children their in- 

 heritances the school may react as a unifying agent through 

 the school library, the annual meeting, the course of study, the 

 social activities of the pupils, cooperation between school and 

 home, through being the leader in, or at least the host for, the 

 intellectual and a?sthetic community meetings and through sym- 

 pathetic, voluntary, competent and unostentatious promotion 

 of the best things by the teacher. 



The chief elements of efficiency in the rural schools are : first, 

 individual objective in instruction; second, simple and natural 

 stimulations; third, the inter-action of all grades and ages; 



1 Adapted from a circular letter issued by United States Bureau of 

 Education. 



2 Adapted from Rural School Efficiency in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, 

 Bulletin No. 4, 1900, pp. 22-25. Published by State Superintendent of 

 Public Instruction, Lansing. 



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