An Example of a "Vitalized" School M. HARRIET BISHOP, HEAD SUPERVISOR OF APPRENTICES, "S IXTEEN Acres" is situated in Hampden County, within the limits of Springfield, and is a rural school whose curriculum has already been vitalized. Teachers and pupils are working together happily and they are justly proud of what they are doing. The school occupies a triangular piece of ground which is laid out artistically according to a plan prepared by a student at the Mass. Agricultural College. For this plan the children measured the grounds and made the drawing. The plan is carried out by the city, a part each year, and as far as possible the children do the planting and care for the shrubs. A good deal of athletic work is carried on during recesses, and before and after school. The school grounds have apparatus for chinning, walking on balance board, sliding, etc., and all sorts of outdoor games are played. Folk dancing is taught, using grafanola records for music. The excellent records owned by the school cultivate the musical taste of the children. They sing with sweet voices and excellent enunciation. As evidence of the concreteness of the nature study I saw some corn which had been planted by the children and had produced one ear. They had learned how to plant a tree, and had been able to give suggestions at home about planting fruit trees. Nearly all the children had gardens at home, their work being supervised by some one from Massachusetts Agricultural College. They took almost entire charge of the care of the school grounds. Cleanliness was taught by precept; and that habit had already passed the early stages, was proved by the showing of clean hands and finger nails, even after a recess period out of doors, no warning having been given. Many of the children are members of the Home Economics Clubs in gardening, canning, pig and poultry raising. A boy who was the winner of the first prize in the county for raising poultry told an interesting story of his experiences, his discouragements and his final success. As an exercise in English his story was excellent. Such activities have interested the parents, and parents and children all enjoy an annual picnic given by the Hampden County Improvement Association. At this picnic athletic contests, dances, games, etc. add greatly to the pleasure of the occasion. Both girls and boys work to pass the physical efficiency tests, and receive a silver or gold button when able to pass them. Although the introduction of these various activities does enrich the curriculum, the vitalizing process is carried on by the teacher. She it is, who puts life and power into any curriculum and the more she has to add to the curriculum of sincere devotion to the interests of her school and the community, the more her school rises to the standard we are holding before us. First Aid to the Citizen-Makers PRESIDENT JOSEPH D. EGGLESTON, VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, BLACKSBURG, VA. I ...........................N a thirty minute talk it is impossible with so large a subject to give more than a bare outline of suggestions. It is to be regretted that a few statistics are necessary. I am offering no new ideas. What is here outlined is being done in spots here and there in the country districts. It needs to be done everywhere. Nothing is suggested here that has not been tried successfully. To get through with the statistics: First, as to isolation. In 1913 Mr. A. C. Monahan of the United States Bureau of Education, published the results of a searching inquiry into the status of the rural schools in 32 states. He found that the total number of one-teacher schools is 80% of the total number of 183,824 public schools in those states. Mr. Monahan concludes that the enrollment in the one-teacher schools is 37.6% of the total enrollment in all the schools of the country, and over 60% of the total enrollment in all the rural schools. It is perfectly obvious that for the next generation or two, at least, from 30 to 40% of all children who live in the open country will remain in the hands of teachers in the one-teacher schools. Second, let us turn another searchlight on the rural school situation: The instability of the teaching force is strikingly reflected in the intensive study made by the Superintendent of Public Schools in Missouri, and by the State Board of Public Affairs in Wisconsin. The State Superintendent of Missouri found that of 9,883 teachers in charge of the one and two-room schools of his state, 69% were teaching their first year in the positions which they then held; 21%, their second year; 7% their third year; 2%, their fourth year; less than 1%, their 5th year. Of the 9,833 teachers, only 55 had taught six or more years in the same school in consecutive years. The preliminary report on conditions and needs in Wisconsin shows a similar state of affairs, and the investigation of the United States Bureau of Education, leaves no doubt that with slight variations the facts in Missouri and Wisconsin are reproduced in practically all the states. Third, another viewpoint: Inexperience or lack of preparation. What is the preparation of these rural school teachers for the business of citizen making?-because citizen-making is the business of the public school teacher. The public school has no reason for existing except for the purpose of making citizens, and the teachers therefore should be preeminently the citizen-makers. What is the preparation of our teachers for this important function? A study made by the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kansas shows that of the total number of rural elementary teachers in both one and two-room schools, less than 5% were college and normal graduates; 31% were high school graduates; 4% had a partial college or normal course; 20% had partial high school courses, and 36% had no high school education at all. The number of experienced teachers was 20% of the whole. The report made by the United States Bureau of Education showed that of the 15,000 rural elementary teachers in New York state in the school commissioners' districts, 139 were college graduates; 3272 had normal diplomas; 6,018 were graduates of teachers' training classes in public high schools; 5,560 or considerably more than a third of the total had no professional training at all. In Texas, of the 13,100 country school teachers, 10,500 had never attended college, normal school, or high school, according to the report of the State Department of Education, and the state superintendent reported that "2,965 of them held a first grade certificate, which is not at all equal to the requirements for graduation from a reputable high school of that state; that 8,740 held second grade certificates, to obtain which they must have the equivalent of the education of the seventh grade in the public schools of the state; and that 530 held third grade certificates, to obtain which they must have completed the work of the fifth grade of the public schools, or its equivalent. Four-fifths of these teachers are white." The State Superintentent of Rural Elementary Schools in South Carolina, in publishing the results of an investigation covering 26 of the 43 counties of that state, says, "of the 2,023 teachers in those counties, 401 were graduates of colleges or normal schools." The report of the Better Iowa Schools' Commission says, "There are in round numbers 12,500 rural schools in Iowa. Almost 40% of the teaching force have less than one year's experience." The average tenure of service is about three years, which is above the average in the United States and 60% of these teachers were without experience. Fourth, A lifeless course of study. This is so large a topic that it could well occupy an hour's talk. It must be considered in the body of this paper. We see from these conditions that in rural education the people are attempting to lift themselves by their own boot-straps. If all the teachers in our rural schools were competent citizenmakers; if they were men and women not only with energy and foresight, but also with the proper training and the vision of the country community as it might and should be; if they were all backed by school boards anxious and able to make their own work effective, then it might be excusable to drop them down into their respective schools to do their work with only such help as the county and state superintendents can give them, supplemented by teachers' institutes, summer normal courses, and the very limited form of extension work which the states offer. But, however well the modern normal schools may fit the teachers of the future for rural work, the statistics given above show that few of the teachers actually in service have had any normal school training, or indeed, any professional training at all. And this year thousands more of inexperienced young women and men in every state in the Union will leave graded schools and high schools, and will be installed in the rural schools because they are able to pass examinations on text books. In the very nature of things they cannot possibly know the business of conducting a country school; and if they are to become efficient citizen-makers, they must be taught while they teach. Now, fortunately, most of these teachers are willing, and even eager, to learn. But to expect them to adopt a social outlook |