372 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



community in the one-room school. For the class from which 

 leaders are recruited is composed partly of those parents who 

 are divided in school interests on account of children attending 

 foreign high schools and partly of those who hold in entire dis- 

 dain the inferior schools of the community. The functions held 

 in the one-room school are not likely even to secure the patron- 

 izing presence of those whose standing and attainments fit them 

 for leadership. Without the hearty cooperation of the nat- 

 ural leaders of a community no institution can be a successful 

 social center. 



The consolidated or centralized school offers bountiful op- 

 portunity for the extension of mutual acquaintance among the 

 residents of a rural community. Children from distant por- 

 tions of the township form friendships which tend to create 

 ties of interest in the parents. One resident of a centralized 

 district describes the results of centralization in extending ac- 

 quaintance thus : . ' ' Before the schools were centralized my son 

 seemed to know no one when we rode about the township. Now 

 as we ride about, a boy or girl will yell, 'Hello, Sammy/ or 

 wave greetings from a distance. When I inquire, 'Who is 

 this ? ' he often gives names entirely unfamiliar to me. Through 

 my son I have become acquainted with many excellent people 

 whom, otherwise, I would have never known. ' ' This is a typical 

 experience. 



Another beneficent result, permanent in effect, will be the 

 formation of lasting friendships among the citizens of the fu- 

 ture. This will more than neutralize the disintegrating forces 

 resulting from changed industrial conditions. Not only does 

 the centralized school offer a wider acquaintanceship than is 

 offered by the one-room school, but in addition a longer period 

 of acquaintance is offered by the consolidated schools. The high 

 school will continue the associations of childhood through the 

 adolescent period. These constructive features of the consoli- 

 dated school do not exist in the one-room school or in any other 

 rural institution except the consolidated school. 



Another service offered by the consolidated school is of far- 

 reaching effect in the social life of rural communities. Rural 

 folks have long been characterized by bashf ulness and the lack of 

 capacity for social enjoyment. This is caused largely by lack of 



