THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 373 



opportunity to play in childhood. Schools should develop the 

 social power of pupils as well as their mental power. Social 

 power, like other powers, can be developed only by its growth 

 through exercise in a favorable environment. In the one-room 

 school, where a child meets with only one or two of his own age 

 and where wholesome play and social enjoyment are lacking, 

 there can be no development of the social power. The habits 

 thus formed are difficult to overcome in after-life ; for the social 

 powers of the pupils in such an environment are stunted. The 

 consolidated school offers a wider acquaintance and a higher 

 standard of social behavior. School activities stimulated by a 

 commendable school spirit will establish the habit of cooperation. 

 Thus, the increased social opportunities offered by the consoli- 

 dated school will lay the foundations of a higher type of social 

 activities in the rural communities of the future, so that the cul- 

 tured classes of the community will be glad to cooperate in the 

 social uplift of all. 



In the consolidated or centralized school there is also a better 

 opportunity to secure constructive leadership from among the 

 teachers. The consolidated school with its high school depart- 

 ment demands better trained and better prepared teachers than 

 does the typical one-room school which is content with a teacher 

 who has a modicum of scholarship, training, and initiative. The 

 college graduate who teaches in the high school and the normal 

 graduate who teaches in the grades offer better material for 

 leadership by reason of their scholarship, their special training, 

 and their social experience. 



In the corps of teachers of the consolidated school, there is 

 usually one who has specialized in music and who is capable of 

 teaching and drilling children, so that appropriate music, an 

 essential of all community gatherings, may be furnished by the 

 children of the parents of the community. Under the direction 

 of the domestic science teacher the pupils of the school may dem- 

 onstrate the quality of their work in the culinary art to the 

 satisfaction and pride of parents and friends. The one-room 

 school system is defective in providing capable leadership from 

 among its teachers. The consolidated school need not be handi- 

 capped by this defect, as it has opportunity to provide fit ma- 

 terial from among its corps of high-class teachers. 



