THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 365 



same limited opportunities for instruction and guidance. In 

 the course of a single generation, these groups now aggregating 

 twenty million men and women will be among the voting citi- 

 zens of the nation. The intelligence that directs their skill and 

 industry will be an important factor in determining the nation's 

 wealth. The ideas and ideals which were impressed upon them in 

 school will form the background against which they will interpret 

 and evaluate the nation's policies. Their judgment, guiding 

 their votes, may make or mar the nation's destiny. 



It is in the little schools of the villages and the rural districts 

 that the youngest, most experienced, and least well-trained teach- 

 ers are to be found. Little schools they are individually, but 

 large in the aggregate and big with national significance, for in 

 them more than one-half of the nation's children are enrolled. 

 And of all phases of the teaching service that which is repre- 

 sented by these rural and village schools is the most exacting, 

 the most arduous, and in many ways the most responsible. 

 While the teacher of the graded city school instructs a single 

 group of children approximately equal in age and attainment, 

 the rural teacher must cover a wide range of subjects with many 

 groups, adapting himself, a score of times each day, to the vary- 

 ing levels of growth and attainment. While the city teacher is 

 helped by expert principals and supervisors, the rural teacher is 

 all but absolutely isolated, and must supply through his own 

 initiative, enthusiasm, and resourcefulness many of the elements 

 of good teaching that one working in an urban community gains 

 through contact with his fellows. 



And yet the environment of these small and isolated schools is 

 in many ways the best that could be provided for the education 

 of boys and girls. The equipment of libraries, shops, and labora- 

 tories may be lacking, but potential resources in abundance lie 

 round about. What is needed is the mind to interpret them 

 and translate their lessons. But this is the hardest kind of 

 teaching, far harder than to assign lessons in books and hear 

 recitations. It is a kind of teaching that requires knowledge, 

 insight, and skill to be obtained only through a broad and 

 thorough training followed by a faithful and carefully super- 

 vised apprenticeship. 



Nor does this tell the whole story of the possibilities and diffi- 



