126 CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS 



strange fact that so many farmers will decry 

 book knowledge when applied to the business of 

 farming, and at the same time set so much store 

 by the book learning that is given in the common 

 arithmetic, the old-fashioned reader, and the 

 dry grammar of the typical school ? Of course 

 anyone pleading for this sort of study in the 

 rural schools must make it clear that the ordi- 

 nary accomplishments of reading, writing, and 

 ciphering are not to be neglected. As a matter 

 of fact, pupils under this method can be just as 

 well trained in these branches as under the old 

 plan. The point to be emphasized, however, 

 is that a course of study constructed on this 

 theory will tend to bring the school and the 

 community closer together, will make the school 

 of more use to the community, will give the com- 

 munity more interest; in the school, while at the 

 same time it will better prepare pupils to do 

 their work in life. 



2. A second way of making the rural school 

 a social center is through the social activities of 

 the pupils. This means that the pupils as a 

 body can co-operate for certain purposes, and 

 that this co-operation will not only secure some 

 good results of an immediate character, results 

 that can be seen and appreciated by everyone, 



