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State Inspector of Rural and Graded Schools, North Dakota

T

HE rural school situation in North Dakota is one that presents
a large problem pressing for solution. It is not a local prob-
Nor is it unsolvable, solutions
But the situation is one that

lem, being found in all the states.

already being made in many places. demands a greater efficiency on the part of the rural schools than we now have. It seems to be conceded by thinking schoolmen everywhere that the rural school situation is one that needs to be improved, and that, greatly and speedily. At the 1911 session of the National Educational Association, a committee of eleven was appointed "to investigate the condition of the rural schools and make recommendations for their improvement." This committee made a preliminary report to the National Council of Education at the recent St. Louis meeting. Deplorable is the word that describes the conditions as found by the committee up to this time. This, of course, was to be expected. At the 1911 meeting of the North Dakota Educational Association, provision was made by resolution to appoint a State Rural School Commission. The resolution states: "It will be the

duty of this commission to recommend effective measures for the permanent uplift of the rural schools of the state." This commission has been appointed and is already at work. Similar commissions are at work in other states, the movement for rural school improvement being really nation-wide.

In discussing the rural school situation in North Dakota I shall do so under the following heads: (1) Some undesirable conditions that make for a lower efficiency; and (2) some desirable conditions that are making for a higher efficiency.

I. SOME UNDESIRABLE CONDITIONS

At a recent meeting of the State Rural School Commission it was agreed that the following are some of the things that make up some undesirable conditions that obtain in our rural school situation: (1) Short terms and low attendance; 2) poorly qualified teachers; (3) insufficient financial support; (4) unsuitable school buildings and school grounds; (5) insufficient supervision; (6) lack of social life centers; and (7) lack of a proper adjustment of text-books and course of study.

TERMS AND ATTENDANCE

As an introduction to this topic it may be said here that practically all statistical data given in this paper have been compiled from an analysis of the State Superintendent's Eleventh Biennial Report -the last one published, County and City Superintendent's reports and of data collected directly and by questionnaires; also that the term "rural school" will here mean the one-room school, tho reference will have to be made to the other classes for the purposes of comparison. The average term for the year 1909-1910 for rural schools including the village graded schools was 136 days. For the rural schools alone it was 130 days; while for the city schools, that is, schools having a state high school as a part of the system, it was 180 days. For rural schools in the province of Manitoba it was 212 days.

In the matter of attendance about the same deplorable conditions obtained. The average number of days attendance for 19091910 for each pupil enrolled in the rural schools including the village graded schools was 83 days. For the rural schools alone it was 77 days, while for the city schools it was 138 days. The actual per cent of attendance which is now generally determined by counting in non-membership absence with the nominal absence, for all schools was sixty-five per cent. For the rural schools including the village graded schools it was sixty-one per cent. For the rural schools alone it was fifty-nine per cent, while for the city schools alone it was seventy-six and five tenths per cent. The enrollment for all schools for this year was 139,802 pupils, and the average daily attendance, 90,149. Therefore the actual average daily absence was 49,653. Of this number the rural and village graded schools furnished 42,556 or eighty-five per cent, while they furnished only seventy-eight per cent of the total enrollment. The rural schools alone furnished more than 38,000 pupils or seventy-six per cent while furnishing less than sixty-seven per cent of the total enrollment. There were also

16,705 persons on the census list who did not enroll in any school, public or private, and who had not completed the eighth grade. An analysis of this number will show that the greater part comes from the rural school non-enrollment, and that it furnishes a larger pro rata share than do the city and village graded schools.

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In connection with these short terms and low attendance there are the questions of the non-use of invested money and of law violation. The average cost of tuition per month per pupil enrolled for 1909-1910 was more than four dollars. This would mean that the non-use of invested money for rural schools for the average term of 130 days amounted approximately to the enormous sum of $988,000.00. The teachers, the buildings and equipments, all representing invested money, were there; but an average of forty-one per cent of the pupils enrolled were not there each day. For this year the report also shows that there were 920 schools in which the school term taught was less than six months. The law required six months. It will be noticed that the average term taught is more than the six months, which is surely noteworthy in this rather dark page of educational history. But this non-use of invested money, and this law violation cannot all be condoned, or even passed over without mention and condemnation. The best that one can say for it is that it is a disgrace to any state. Back of it all, and back of all similar school conditions is ignorance, greed, indifference, or petty politics, or all combined. And back of this unholy combination is the ignoble sentiment that "money makes the man."

In the year 1903 there were enrolled in the first grade approximately 23,000 pupils, while in the year 1910 there were only 8,279 enrolled in the eighth grade. When one remembers that this last number was increased by immigration during this period, and that the city schools furnish the largest pro-rata share of it, it can be seen that the grade mortality is very heavy in the rural schools. From data collected at different times it has been found that the number of country children completing the eighth grade is less than fifteen per cent of the total available number. In this matter the country boy who furnishes the largest per cent of any age-group of school children, furnishes the lowest per cent compelting the eighth grade. Later he must furnish the most money to support the family, church, school, and state, despite the fact that he receives the least education. It also appears that the minor fraction of the country children enroll in sixth and seventh grades. When the high school facilities are considered for the rural child, the conditions are still more deplorable. It has been ascertained that the number of country children enrolled

in the classified high schools is less than twenty per cent of the total enrollment tho the number of country children was about seventyfive per cent of the total available number. The city school shows a higher per cent entering and completing the higher grades than do the rural schools.

In this matter of attendance it is not to be expected that the rural schools would make as good a showing as the city schools. However, the attendance can be greatly improved. There are counties, districts, and individual schools that make as good a showing as some of our best city schools. Thus, what several can do, many more under practically the same conditions ought also to do. And there is certainly no reason whatever why the term should not be as long. The children need it and there is money to pay for it. It is largely a matter of public spirit and civic pride. Of course this large daily absence cannot be entirely eliminated, for there are cases of sickness, removals from districts and so forth, that furnish some of this absence, tho a very small fraction. The city schools suffer the most in this respect. And yet they make a much better showing than the rural schools. There is also the question of child labor involved in the relatively small attendance in the rural schools. This shows very plainly in the small number and small per cent of boys that complete the eighth grade. Most of them have been kept out to assist on the farms, and so falling behind their grades drop out as soon as the compulsory law cannot reach them. Anyone even slightly familiar with North Dakota farming conditions in connection with rural school attendance needs no lengthy argument to convince him that the country boys are deprived of school in large numbers during the fall and spring months. Any analysis of the state's statistics or investigation of teachers' registers, clerks' or superintendents' records, or somewhat extended travel and observation, will convince the most skeptical that in this respect at least, the rural school situation is North Dakota is truly deplorable. The causes, effects, and results of these undesirable conditions would make a paper many pages in length. Here the principal cause is the mad scramble after the American dollar. And so we have many thousand fields, broad and well-tilled, as the result of many thousand boys with narrow and illtrained minds.

POORLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS

The majority of teachers in the rural schools hold only the county second, or elementary second grade certificate. This is about the equivalent of the completion of the eighth grade in the average

city schools. Some do not mesure up to this standard, and only a very few above it. Not only are they deficient in academic training, but their professional training is still more deficient. Seldom do they possess the elements of leadership tho they always have abundant opportunity to use it in the rural school community. Lacking knowledge and professional skill, they generally lack leadership, and lacking these they must fail to render that larger service needed in the rural communities.

INSUFFICIENT FINANCIAL SUPPORT

The rural school community is notorious for the niggardly manner in which it supports the rural schools. This is so in many ways. The rural school teacher averages less salary per month and a shorter school year than does the city teacher, or the rural teacher in the Province of Manitoba. There is a difference from both sources of more than $225.00 in the school year. For the school year 1910-1911 the average tax rate in the districts supporting state high schools was more than twenty-one mills on the dollar; while in those supporting rural schools it was less than ten mills on the dollar. In many cases it was less than five. Until the rural school patron makes up his mind to pay more taxes he must be content with a much inferior school when compared with the city school. The per capita wealth for those living in the rural school communities is greater than for those living in city school communities. This would mean that the rural school patron can well afford to pay the taxes if he will. When he does he will get the teachers and the schools that his children are entitled to get, and not until then. Of course there are a few school districts that pay more than ten, and the schools show it.

SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS

As a rule the building is of the chalk-box type, much as it was twenty-five to thirty years ago. It has double cross lighting, the unjacketed stove, window and door ventilation. The grounds are small, unfenced, and without trees. The picture is of the weatherbeaten, un-painted schoolhouse set out upon the wind-swept prairies -an appropriate, but an ugly monument to man's cupidity or thoughtlessness. Many times you will find a country barn in better shape to serve its purpose than the country schoolhouse to serve its purpose.

INSUFFICIENT SUPERVISION

The schools do not get the supervision that they need. The

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