COUNTRY SCHOOL GROUNDS 
Ground Plans 
The most important points to be observed in school ground 
design are: 
1. Convenience: The practical requirements must be met 
first and absolutely. They are very definite and cannot be ignored. 
2. Simplicity: The simplest scheme of layout is almost neces- 
sarily the best. 
3. Orderliness: A hit-or-miss, jumbled-up arrangement of parts 
is fatal to good design. 
The “beautification”? of school grounds, sometimes soberly 
discussed, must be achieved through convenience, simplicity, and 
good order. A failure in these qualities can never be covered up 
by any quantity of ‘“‘ornamental planting.” 
General Care 
Maintenance is even more important than the original layout of 
school grounds. The grounds must be kept clean and in good order 
at all times. The school house and out-buildings must be clean and 
in repair. All this costs more in thought and labor than people 
commonly suppose. It is in fact much more expensive in both time 
and money than any scheme of beautification likely to be under- 
taken. Moreover, it requires much larger moral qualities to pur- 
sue the daily drudgery of maintenance and to keep everything always 
looking spick and span. _It is a good thing for the school teacher, 
the school board, or the village improvement society to organize 
a campaign for the improvement of school grounds. It is an equally 
good thing to conduct a campaign for their daily care. 
Problems 
Problem I: Each pupil should now be required to report, 
preferably in writing, upon one or more rural school grounds, such 
reports, of course, to be based upon actual visits and careful ex- 
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