CHAPTER VIII 

 THE HESPERIA MOVEMENT 



The gulf between parent and teacher is too 

 common a phenomenon to need exposition. The 

 existence of the chasm is probably due more to 

 carelessness, to the pressure of time, or to indo- 

 lence than to any more serious delinquencies; 

 yet all will admit the disastrous effects that flow 

 from the fact that there is not the close intellec- 

 tual and spiritual sympathy that there should be 

 between the school and the home. It needs no 

 argument to demonstrate the value of any move- 

 ment that has for its purpose the bridging of the 

 gulf. But it is an omen of encouragement to 

 find that there are forces at work designed to 

 bring teacher and school patron into a closer 

 working harmony. A statement of the history 

 and methods of some of these agencies may 

 therefore well have a place in a discussion of 

 rural progress. For the movements to be de- 

 scribed are essentially rural-school movements. 

 Of first interest is an attempt which has been 

 made in the state of Michigan to bridge the gulf 

 to create a common standing-ground for both 



104 



