The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1501 
Th  ere  Is  No  R  ural  ScK  ool  Problem 
[Last  year,  in  its  issue  for  Dee.  23,  The  R.  N.-Y. 
printed  the  following  article  on  the  rural  schools. 
Some  of  our  readers  regard  it  as  the  most  sensible  dis¬ 
cussion  of  the  subject  that  they  have  seen,  and  they 
ask  us  to  reprint  it  as  a  part  of  the  present  discussion. 
And  so,  it  is  given  entire.] 
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  schoolliouse  has  given  the 
best  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  me  repeat  this  and 
write  it  large.  It  is  not  well  understood.  The  po¬ 
tential  efficiency  of  the  rural  school  is  inversely  pro¬ 
portionate  to  the  number  of  pupils  registered  and, 
attending.  The  rural  school  just  begins  to  find  itself 
at  the  point  where  the  reformers  (?)  and  peda¬ 
gogical  doctors  would  obliterate  it  and  merge  its 
handful  of  pupils  with  the  conglomerate  mass  at¬ 
tending  the  town  school. 
PRACTICAL  KNOWLEDGE.— How  do  I  know 
this?  Because  I  have  spent  several  years  of  my  life 
in  elementary  and  high  school  work,  and  because  for 
six  years  I  had  the  supervision  of  80  rural  schools 
in  one  of  the  commissioned  districts  of  New  York 
State.  As  a  further  qualification  for  discussing  some 
phases  of  this  subject  I  may  incidentally  add  that 
at  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 
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.  I  might  write  pages  giving  my  reasons  for 
this,  but  let  this  one  instance  suffice.  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  of  the  pupils  practically  finished,  her 
high  school  course  in  this  school,  going  down  to  the 
neighboring  high  school  for  her  regents  examina¬ 
tions.  These  results  were  possible,  first,  because  of 
the  splendid  qualifications  of  the  teachers  employed ; 
second,  because  of  the  small  registration  (note  this) 
which  seldom  exceeded  four.  The  sclioolhouse  was 
a  poorly-equipped,  ramshackle  affair,  located  upon  a 
mountain-like  hill,  ,in  a  God-forsaken  locality.  The 
district  had  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  be 
mightily  interested  in  a  cheaper  way.  Nevertheless 
he  is  doomed  to  disappointment  when  he  investigates 
the  transportation  proposition,  for  he  almost  invari¬ 
ably  finds  that  it  costs  more  for  transport  than  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  be  a  good  way 
to  lessen  taxes. 
EXISTING  PROBLEMS. — Now  when  I  said  there 
is  no  rural  school  problem  I  did  not  say  there  are 
no  rural  school  problems.  There  are  many  of  them. 
First,  the  teacher.  A  schoolliouse,  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  be  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 
preparation  or  relaxation.  This  might  be  remedied 
to  some  extent  by  some  sort  of  teacherage,  but  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  prob¬ 
lem  is  supervision.  It  is  one  of  the  incongruities  of 
the  practical  working  of  our  school  system,  that 
schools  pro ,  hied  with  adequate  supervision  usually 
insist  upon  experienced  and  successful  teachers, 
while  the  young  teacher  is  practically  forced  to  gain 
experience  in  the  rural  schools,  with  little  or  no 
supervision. 
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  office  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  be 
done.  An  adequate  allowance  should  be  made  for 
clerical  assistance  and  the  superintendent  freed  for 
supervisory  work. 
FINANCIAL. — 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  as  some  imagine.  There  is  doubtless  room 
for  much  improvement,  but  with  proper  supervision 
we  can  get  along  very  well  as  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 
be  mighty  poor  schooling  that  did  not  prepare  the 
farm  boy  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  be  necessary  in  wide,  open 
spaces,  in  order  to  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  edu¬ 
cational  system,  permit  me  to  suggest  that  a  commit¬ 
tee  of  farmers — twenty-one  would  be  too  many — 
investigate  our  city  schools  and  report  on  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  sympathy 
which  is  so  characteristic  of  rural  school  work. 
Cattaraugus  Co.,  N.  Y.  sylvanus  a.  peavy. 
Consolidated  School  and  Taxation 
OES  school  consolidation  increase  taxes?  That 
question  is  being  fiercely  debated  on  all  sides. 
Some  of  the  promoters  of  the  new  school  bill  claim 
that  consolidation  will  not  increase  taxes  to  any 
considerable  extent,  but  they  do  not  present  con¬ 
vincing  figures.  We  have  written  many  of  our  read¬ 
ers  in  Ohio,  Iowa,  and  other  Western  States  where 
this  system  has  been  developed.  Every  report  shows 
increased  taxation.  In  fact;  no  one  could  expect 
any  other  result.  The  following  brief  statement  is 
typical  of  hundreds  received  here: 
We  pay  tax  on  SO  acres  which  was  included  in  the 
Springville  consolidated  school  two  years  ago,  Brown 
township.  The  levy  for  school  purposes  before  con¬ 
solidation  was:  1020.  13.7  mills;  after  consolidation, 
1921,  54.5  mills;  1922,  54.8  mills.  We  also  pay  tax  on 
land  in  Marion  township  which  is  not  in  the  consoli¬ 
dated  school  district.  The  levy  on  this  for  school  pur¬ 
poses  was :  1920,  13.7  mills ;  1921,  16.5  mills ;  1922, 
16.5  mills. 
This  land  is  divided  only  by  the  public  highway  so 
the  valuation  is  practically  the  same. 
■Springville,  Iowa.  l.  b.  Stanley. 
Of  course  the  question  goes  deeper  than  a  mere 
statement  of  increased  expenses.  Does  the  invest¬ 
ment  pay?  No  one  can  expect  to  develop  a  business 
of  any  sort  without  putting  capital  into  it.  We  be¬ 
lieve  it  has  been  fully  demonstrated  that  a  system 
of  consolidated  schools  will  increase  expenses.  Is 
the  benefit  to  be  derived  from  it  great  enough  to 
make  it  a  wise  investment?  Our  reports  from  Ohio 
and  Iowa  show  a  wide  difference  of  opinion.  It  is 
not  all  one  way,  as  some  of  the  educators  would 
have  us  believe.  We  certainly  have  some  reports 
from  farmers  who  say  that  the  closing  of  the  local 
school  has  resulted  in  little  short  of  a  calamity. 
The  more  we  investigate  those  western  conditions 
the  more  convinced  we  become  that  the  radical 
changes  in  the  proposed  school  law  should  be  tried 
out  in  several  communities  or  counties  before  they 
are  forced  upon  the  entire  State. 
Unpaid  Taxes  in  New  York  State 
HERE  have  been  many  conflicting  statements 
about  the  non-payment  of  taxes  in  the  rural 
counties  of  New  York.  It  has  been  reported  repeat¬ 
edly  that  many  farmers  have  been  unable  to  meet 
their  taxes,  or  that  they  have  been  obliged  to  bor¬ 
row  money  with  which  to  pay  them.  Investigation 
shows  that  the  reports  regarding  non-payment  are 
greatly  exaggerated.  The  following  are  sample  re¬ 
ports  from  tax  collectors  of  rural  counties : 
The  amount  of  taxes  returned  to  this  office  by  the 
several  tax  collectors  of  Genesee  County  for  the  year 
1923  aggregated  about  one-half  of  the  amount  returned 
the  previous  year.  I  am  now  advertising  for  sale  for 
unpaid  taxes  11  pieces  of  property,  which  covers  the 
total  unpaid  State,  county  and  town  tax  in  the  county. 
Some  of  these  will  be  paid  before  the  date  of  sale.  The 
returned  unpaid  school  tax  in  the  county  is  to  the 
amount  of  $08.77  on  eight  pieces  of  property.  This 
should  not  be  considered  as  an  abnormal  condition  as 
far  as  the  county  is  concerned.  fred’k  w.  decker, 
Genesee  County  Treasurer. 
I  am  pleased  to  advise  you  that  the  tax  matters  in 
this  county  have  been  very  satisfactory.  There  was 
only  approximately  $5,234.37  returned  by  the  collectors 
as  unpaid,  and  of  this  amount  all  but  $121.21  was  col¬ 
lected  by  this  office  during  the  Summer,  and  on  October 
26  we  sold  six  small  parcels  and  collected  the  balance 
mentioned  above.  On  school  taxes  we  had  a  good  many 
returns,  but  have  been  successful  in  collecting  every¬ 
one,  so  that  we  have  no  taxes  to  reassess  against  the 
property  in  this  county. 
Of  course  you  understand  that  it  has  been  very  diffi¬ 
cult  for  many  of  the  farmers  in  the  county  to  pay  their 
taxes  when  due,  and  no  doubt  they  borrowed  to  some 
extent  in  anticipation  of  better  returns  from  their  farms 
to  take  care  of  the  matter  later  on,  but  as  outlined 
above,  I  would  say  that,  generally  speaking,  things  in 
this  county  are  in  very  good  condition.  Our  records  in 
this  office  show  that  there  are  no  taxes  due  from  any 
individual  or  anyone  for  the  year  1922  or  any  year  pre¬ 
vious.  Last  year  all  but  seven  taxes  returned  to  this 
office  were  collected,  and  these  were  re-assessed  and 
paid  this  year.  iiomer  e.  snyder, 
Ontario  County  Treasurer. 
For  the  taxes  accruing  and  due  in  December,  1922,  a 
larger  proportion  were  returned  unpaid  to  this  office  at 
the  expiration  of  the  warrants  of  the  collectors  than  in 
previous  years.  We  think,  however,  that  this  was  quite 
largely  due  to  general  conditions,  and  in  two  towns  that 
we  have  in  mind,  through  the  carelessness  and  negli¬ 
gence  of  the  collectors,  who  were  not  very  competent, 
and  were  willing  to  swear  that  they  could  not  find  any¬ 
thing  on  which  to  levy  to  enforce  collection.  We  do  not 
think  there  is  as  great  a  proportion  of  school  taxes  re¬ 
turned  in  Chenango  County  as  there  is  for  the  Stare 
and  county  tax,  and  we  do  not  see  anything  especially 
startling  in  Chenango  County  regarding  the  matter  of 
unpaid  taxes.  Of  course,  there  are  always  more  or  less 
people  who  will  wait  till  the  last  minute,  spending  their 
money  for  other  things,  and  making  no  provision  what¬ 
ever  for  their  taxes  until  they  are  forced  to  do  so. 
*  EARL  W.  CAMP. 
Chenango  County  Treasurer. 
As  far  as  the  town,  county  and  State  taxes  are  con¬ 
cerned,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  towns,  the 
taxes  of  the  farmers  have  been  very  well  cleaned  up. 
We  are  not  so  well  informed  on  the  school  taxes,  as  we 
do  not  settle  with  the  school  tax  collectors,  and  many 
taxes  might  be  delinquent  that  we  know  nothing  about. 
We  are  unable  to  give  you  an  accurate  estimate  of  the 
proportion  of  the  farmers  who  are  delinquent  in  their 
taxes  in  this  county.  T.  R.  melrose, 
St.  Lawrence  County  Deputy  Treasurer. 
Referring  to  your  letter  in  regard  to  taxes  for  Cayuga 
County,  I  beg  to  advise  that  there  does  not  seem  to  be 
any  increase  in  the  returned  taxes  in  this  county,  as  our 
sales,  etc.,  remain  about  as  usual. 
MAURICE  D.  RICHARDS, 
Cayuga  County  Treasurer. 
