express himself thus bringing about a realization of mastery that leads to encouragement and enkindles an aspiration for greater achievement. Proper instruction can not be given in subjects relating directly to the two principal vocations of rural communities, agriculture and home making, and in such cultural subjects as literature, music, and art. It no longer fulfills the needs for a social center. The demand for a high school education can not be met in the one-room system. The better class of teachers seek employment in those systems that provide the facilities necessary to give the child opportunity for proper development and where they can employ means and methods in accordance with modern educational ideals.

When the one-room system was inaugurated it was the best the conditions of the times would permit. Roads were difficult to travel and the population was scattered, making it necessary to have schools located so they would be most accessible to the pupils. But these conditions no longer prevail. Modern means of communication have caused the farmer's independence to disappear and he has been brought in contact with a larger and more complex society with its hundreds of industries and civic duties instead of the simple activities of pioneer life.

Those who are always looking backward and praising the good old days blame school men for the many studies that have been added to the meager curriculum of the pioneer school and deplore the lack of thoroughness in school work, especially in reading, spelling, and figuring. The program of studies has been broadened because of a public demand and because of the real educational value of these new subjects. The child must be given opportunity to discover himself, that his powers and capabilities may be directed along those lines of achievement where he has the best chance for success. Division of labor and specialization place a greater responsibility upon the school which can be met only by an expanded program of studies related to the diversified interests of life; but the teaching force has not increased proportionately in the one-room system and all the work devolves upon a single teacher who is not equal to the task. In the country where the child lives in the midst of God's great outdoors, the most wonderful laboratory to be conceived, the best conditions exist for his complete and wholesome development. Trees, flowers, birds, fresh air and sunshine, are much more conducive to the development of sturdy character than sky scrapers, alleys, and asphalt streets. The country boy and girl have been faced toward the city with its attractions and allurements because the old school of our fathers has failed to reveal to them the possibilities of rural life. Consolidation of schools and transportation of pupils at public expense is the remedy for all this.

4 P. L.

CHART I― Showing medians in silent reading for one-room, four-room, and eight-room type of schools for Cuyahoga County. Solid line is established standard.

(Courtesy of County Superintendent A. G. Yawberg.)

It will be noticed from the above chart that in reading the one-room and even the four-room schools with only two grades for a teacher fall far below the standard while the same work in the eight-room school is pretty generally above standard. (Annual Report, Cuyahoga County.)

Here again the same relation is shown. When pupils fall below in reading and spelling as they do in the one-room school we would expect them to fall below in practically everything else since reading and spelling are at the very foundation of all school progress. Tests in other subjects bear out this expectation.-(Annual Report, Cuyahoga County.)

Showing the percent of efficiency for the county as a whole and for the one-room type of school as opposed to the eight-room type for grades four to eight, inclusive, in the fundamentals. (Annual Report, Cuyahoga County.)

HISTORY OF CENTRALIZATION..

As early as 1865 Massachusetts passed a law authorizing consolidation of schools and in 1869 enacted another law providing for the conveyance of school children at public expense. It has been tried successfully since that time not only by Massachusetts but by all the rest of New England. Ohio in 1892 was the first state west of the Alleghenies to permit the union of two or more districts to form a consolidated school. In 1892 the Kingsville Township board of education decided to transport the children of the township to Kingsville which was one

of the districts of the township. In 1894 the general assembly by special legislation made provision for the cost of transportation of pupils in Kingsville Township, Ashtabula County. At the meeting of the next general assembly another special measure was passed for the relief of the counties of Stark, Ashtabula, and Portage and in 1898 a general law was passed on the subject. In 1897 Mad River Township, Champaign County, transported 18 children to Westville rather than establish a new district and build a new school house. This was the first step toward establishing a centralized school in Ohio. The general legislation enacted by the General Assembly in 1898 and subsequently has been the result of a demand by those living in the country for an education that meets the needs of modern progressive life and that will give to the country