I486 
December 2 
1022 
township law, Some of these differences are: 
a. In the county unit that is proposed by the 
committee there wmikl he a representative from each 
district on the boa*‘d of education, ruder the town¬ 
ship law there was no provision for such representa¬ 
tion. 
b. The committee's recommendations provide that 
there shall be no consolidation of schools except on 
the basis of a majority vote of the people in each 
district affected by a proposed consolidation. The 
board of education had the power to bring about 
consolidation of schools under the township law. 
c. The township law left the supervisory districts 
they were. The committee's report recommends 
that they he strengthened, and that the people be 
represented by a board of education in each super¬ 
visory district, this board to elect the superintendent 
and to be associated with him in determining poli¬ 
cies relating to schools as the board of education 
does in a union free school district. 
d. The committee believes that the development 
of a stronger and more effective supervisory district 
is important, as is the formation of a larger local 
unit. These two changes will make possible decen¬ 
tralization of responsibility in many directions in 
the administration of the schools. The present cen¬ 
tralization results in decided loss of local interest 
and initiative in schools. The formation of a strong 
supervisory unit will give a greater degree of flexi¬ 
bility to the school system, thus making it possible 
to more completely adjust it to local needs. 
e. A more definite organization in the State De¬ 
partment of Education for co-operating with local 
communities in the development of their schools. It 
seems to the committee that there is opportunity for 
a more adequate consideration of the problems of 
rural education than they have sometimes received, 
and it has suggested an organization that it believes 
will attain this end. 
OTHER DIFFERENCES.—While these financial 
and administrative points cover most of the main 
differences between the township law and the report 
of the committee there arc other important differ¬ 
ences dealing with preparation of teachers, courses 
of study better adapted to the needs of the children, 
the regents examination system and more adequate 
buildings and equipment. The committee has made 
no final decision regarding the time when a Dill will 
t o presented to the Legislature. That will be deter¬ 
mined by the attitude of farm people. It is possible 
that it may be introduced at the coming session of 
the Legislature. Whether or not the people vote on 
it would he determined by the Legislature. The 
committee has no authority or no means by which to 
submit it to a Slate-wide vote. The committee has 
recommended that the transportation of pupils 
should be at public expense, with State aid to assist 
the local'Communities. The means of meeting the 
transportation problem for the older pupils would 
necessarily vary in different parts of the State. It 
would be handled largely by means of the electric 
and steam roads, and public busses in some places. 
In others it would he practicable to provide busses 
for transportation to schools and in still others there 
might be financial assistance to isolated homes that 
provide their own transportation. 
GEOBGE A. WORKS. 
Chairman Committee of Twenty-one. 
There Is No Rural School Problem 
A WORKING INSTITUTION.—Why all this fuss 
and feathers over the “rural school problem?” 
There is no “rural school problem." Of all American 
institutions the little red schoolhouse has given the 
Pest account of itself. Neither is it an outgrown and 
effete institution. It is doing better work today than 
ever before. Its product will grade proportionately 
higher than that of any other primary school. Con¬ 
trary to common impression, small rural registration 
means better school work. Let .mo repeat this and 
write k large. It is not well understood. The 
potential efficiency of the rural school ix inversely 
proportionately to Ihe number of pupil* reyistered 
and attending. The rural school just begins to find 
itself at the point where the reformers (?) and 
pedagogical doctors would obliterate it and merge 
its handful of pupils with the conglomerate mass 
attending the town school. 
PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE.—IIow do I know 
this? Because I have spent several years of mv life 
iii elementary and high school work and because for 
-ix years I had the supervision of SO rural schools 
in one of the commissioned districts of New Aork 
State. As a further qualification for discussing some 
phases of this subject J may incidentally add that 
ill present I am paying taxes in four rural school 
districts and one high school district. At the time I 
became commissioner the State superintendent was 
7ht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
thoroughly imbued with the idea that no school with 
fewer than 10 pupils had a right to exist, and I nat¬ 
urally became inoculated with the same notion, I 
firmly intended to find some way to wipe out every 
small school in my district. I had not gone very 
far, however, when I changed my mind most radi¬ 
cally. 1 might write pages giving my reasons for 
this, but let this one instance sullice. When I was 
asked to help make up a rural school exhibit for the 
St. Louis Exposition I found the best, work in my 
10 smallest schools. 
A FINE EXHIBIT.—One of these sent in papers in 
first and second-year English, first and second-year 
Latin, botany, geology, algebra and geometry. These 
papers not only were written like copper plate, but 
they showed such intimate knowledge of subject 
matter as is seldom attained by students of these 
branches. One <>f the pupils practically finished her 
high school couise in this school, going down to the 
neighboring high school for her regents examina¬ 
tions. These results were possible, first, because of 
Ihe splendid qualifications of the teachers employed: 
second, because of the small registration (note this) 
which s< Idem exceeded four. The schoolhouse was 
a poorly-equipped, ramshackle affair located upon a 
mountain-like hill, in a God-forsaken locality. The 
Mai,iiiy Friend* With the (loose 
district bad been annulled by my predecessor, but 
the school was being run as a branch school by the 
consolidated district. 
WAS IT WASTEFUL?—A wicked waste of money, 
say the wise ones, to maintain so small a school. 
Let us see. The farmer’s constant struggle is “to 
make income meet expense,*' and he will always he 
mightily interested in a cheaper way. Nevertheless 
lie is doomed to disappointment when he investigates 
the transportation proposition, for lie almost invar¬ 
iably finds that it costs more for transport lhan it 
does to hire a teacher and run his own school. More¬ 
over. it is much easier to secure a competent teacher 
than it is to find a driver competent and willing to 
care for the health, safety and morals of his charges. 
Besides, the school runs with much less friction and 
attention than the bus line. One who has ever paid 
taxes toward building and maintaining a modern 
town school will appreciate the irony of any sug¬ 
gestion that moving to town would he a good way 
to lessen taxes. 
EXISTING PROBLEMS.—Now when I said there 
is no rural school problem, 1 did not say there are 
no rural school problems. There are many of them. 
First, the teacher. A schoolhouse, however well 
equipped, is not a school, as some seem to think. A 
school is a teacher and one or more pupils, and the 
school will la* good in proportion to the efficiency of 
the teacher. Why do the best teachers refuse rural 
school work? For three principal reasons. First, 
unsatisfactory home life—no suitable place for prep¬ 
aration or relaxation. This might be remedied to 
some extent by sonic sort, of teaeheruge, built pre¬ 
ferably in connection with the schoolroom. Second, 
wages are too low comparatively. Third, but not 
least, a too prevalent and mischievous sentiment 
that somehow the rural teacher is an inferior per¬ 
son doing inferior work in schools that really have 
no right to exist, and so too often the teacher has 
thought it necessary to make apology for being 
found in a rural school, and if the school was very 
small the apology was apt to be abject. This senti¬ 
ment can and must be changed Our second problem 
is supervision. It is one of the incongruities of the 
practical working of our school system, that schools 
provided with adequate supervision usually insist 
upon experienced and successful teachers, while the 
young teacher is practically forced to gain experi¬ 
ence in the rural schools, with little or no super¬ 
vision. 
RURAL SUPERINTENDENTS. — Those with 
whom I have come in contact have usually been 
earnest, hard-working men. doing a wonderful 
amount of good under serious handicaps, but it is a 
notorious fact that for many years the oltice was a 
political sop thrown to “heelers" or those unsuccess¬ 
ful in securing nominations to “higher " offices. The 
office has also been made something of a department 
clerkship, and it is still burdened with much clerical 
work, and faced with much more that ought to he 
done. An adequate allowance should he* made for 
clerical assistance and the superintendent freed for 
supervisory work.* 
FINANCES.—Our third problem is financial. Dur¬ 
ing recent years taxes have quadrupled without cor¬ 
responding improvements. Doubtless a larger tax 
unit (preferably the State) should be established. 
The problem of local administration is not nearly so 
serious ns some imagine There is doubtless room 
for much improvement, hut with proper supervision 
we can get along very well ns we are. Compared 
with the antics of some town school boards, the ad¬ 
ministration of the average rural trustee would ap¬ 
pear quite safe and sane, 
INFLUENCE OF THE SCHOOL.—I am not list¬ 
ing the rural course of study as a problem, because 
it is reasonably satisfactory as it stands. There is 
no danger of educating the boy away from the farm 
so long as he can be shown a reasonable prospect of 
prosperity by remaining at home. But so long as 
the present deplorable conditions obtain, it would 
he mighty pour schooling that did not prepare the 
farm hoy for some other work. The rural districts 
will welcome any suggestions or assistance for im¬ 
proving their schools, but those interested should 
bear in mind that they are dealing with a live, go¬ 
ing concern, and that we have no idea of submerg¬ 
ing our schools in any form of consolidation what¬ 
ever. Consolidation may he necessary in wide, open 
spaces, in order lo provide available high school ad¬ 
vantages. but in New York State there is no such 
necessity, since we already have an academic insti¬ 
tution at almost every crossroads. If it is absolutely 
necessary to raise a rumpus somewhere in our educa¬ 
tional system, permit me to suggest that a commit¬ 
tee of tanners—twenty-one would Ik* too many— 
investigate our city schools and report oil the feasi¬ 
bility of injecting a little red blood into the student 
body, and eliminating, if possible, those martyrs who 
come to class with an air of condescension which 
plainly says to the teacher, "I care nothing about 
your instruction. I am here simply to help provide 
a means by which you may gain a livelihood.” 
Something has already been done along this line. 
Some years ago Supt. Kennedy inaugurated what be¬ 
came known as the Batavia system. It consisted es¬ 
sentially of placing a second teacher in an over¬ 
crowded room, whose work should be to render per¬ 
sonal assistance, especially to the duller pupils, leav¬ 
ing the first teacher wholly free to conduct recita¬ 
tions. The “system" gave a splendid account of 
itself and received world wide attention. But. with¬ 
out realizing it, Kennedy had simply introduced a bit 
of that personal touch and helpful syiniwthy which 
is so characteristic of rural school work. 
Cattaraugus C’o., N. .Y. sylvanus a. fkavy. 
A Boy's Aberdeen-Angus Heifer 
ROF. FRED E. BROOKtS of West Virginia sends 
us the following note about the boy shown in 
the picture on first page: 
This D a picture «>f French I’agi*. a 13-year-old club 
boy of West Virginia, and his !)10-Tb. Aberdeen-Angus 
heifer. When ihe heifer was about four months old 
French bought it. giving in payment his note for $1*10, 
due in one year, with (he understanding that at the 
expiration of the year the heifer should be sold at 
auction at the county fair and (lie note paid from the 
proceeds of the sale. "When the time arrived the heifer, 
which was now 1(1 months old. was offered for sale to 
the highest ladder. French desired very much to keep 
the heifer to breed from, and having arranged to pay 
the note in another way he started the bidding at $200. 
A stockman from another county bid against him and 
run the price up to $1,000. Finally the hoy hid $1,010 
and kept the heifer. It now remains to he seen whether 
he showed good business judgment in buying it at ihai 
price. The picture was made just before French started 
for Charleston to exhibit the heifer at the annual State 
club meeting. 
It seems that the father of this boy has been a 
reader of Tiie R. N.-Y. for many years and says lie 
“could not farm without it.” He i>i. a hill fanner 
with a small farm, hut he is one of those men who 
believe in giving his hoy Ihe best he can afford. The 
boy is undertaking a large contract in paying such 
