RIVERSIDE TEXTBOOKS
IN EDUCATION
EDITED BY ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY
PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR
UNIVERSITY
RIVERSIDE TEXTBOOKS
IN EDUCATION
EDITED BY ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY
- RURAL LIFE AND EDUCATION. By E. P. CUBBERLEY, Professor of Education, Leland Stanford Junior University. $1.50 net. Postpaid.
- THE HYGIENE OF THE SCHOOL CHILD.
By L. M. TERMAN, Associate Professor of Education, Leland Stanford Junior University. $1.65 net. Postpaid. - THE EVOLUTION OF THE EDUCATIONAL IDEAL. By MABEL I. EMERSON, First Assistant in Charge of the George Bancroft School, Boston. $1.00 net. Postpaid.
- HEALTH WORK IN THE SCHOOLS. By E. B. HOAG, M.D., Medical Director, Long Beach City Schools, Cal., and L. M. TERMAN. $1.60 net. Postpaid.
- DISCIPLINE AS A SCHOOL PROBLEM. By A. C. PERRY, JR., District Superintendent of Schools, New York City. $1.25 net. Postpaid.
- HOW TO TEACH THE FUNDAMENTAL SUBJECTS. By C. N. KENDALL, Commissioner of Education for New Jersey, and G. A. MIRICK, formerly Deputy Commissioner of Education for New Jersey. $1.25 net. Postpaid.
- TEACHING LITERATURE IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES AND HIGH SCHOOL. By EMMA M. BOLENIUS, formerly Instructor in English, Central Commercial and Manual Training High School, Newark, N. J. $1.25 net. Postpaid.
- PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. By E. P. CUBBERLEY. $1.75 net. Postpaid.
RURAL LIFE
AND EDUCATION
A Study of the Rural-School Problem as
a
Phase of the Rural-Life Problem
BY
ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY
PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, LELAND
STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON:
NEW YORK:
CHICAGO:
The Riverside Press
Cambridge
COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
FOURTH IMPRESSSION
The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
U.S.A.
page: [v][View Page [v]]INTRODUCTION
A RECENT writer has stated that the rural-school problem would be much easier of solution if some writer on the subject would clearly set forth the nature of the problem. The suggestion was a good one, as most writers on the subject do not seem to see clearly the nature of the problem they are considering.
The rural-school problem of to-day is a social, even more than an educational problem, and is the result of a long national evolution, coupled with recent profound changes in rural life itself. The rural-school problem is inseparable from the rural-life problem, and of which it is but a phase. Those who do most toward its solution will be those who see the problem clearly in its historical and sociological setting, and who have some grasp of American rural history.
To give the problem such a setting has been the purpose of the first part of the book. The rural-life problem is there set forth in its historical development, and the origin and present status of the rural-school problem shown. With this as a basis the student is ready to pass to the second part of the book, which sets forth specifically the present rural-school problem, and points out the fundamental nature of the remedies which must be applied for its solution. The many page: vi[View Page vi] plates and figures in the text have been introduced to give greater concreteness to the discussion.
Such a presentation of the rural-life and rural-educational problems as is set forth in the following pages might well form the basis, as a textbook, for normal-school classes in Rural-Life Problems, Rural-School Problems, or Rural Sociology, and ought to be of particular value to such students in properly orienting them for intelligent work in rural education. Those studying the problem in normal-school or college classes in School Administration ought also to find the presentation helpful, from an administrative point of view. To teachers and supervisory officers in service the presentation ought to prove instructive and useful, as they are dealing with the problem at first hand. It is also hoped that the work will prove interesting and instructive to farmers, ministers, rural librarians, rural social-workers, and other students of the rural-life problem. The book has been prepared with a view of meeting the needs of these different classes of students and citizens.
page: [vii][View Page [vii]]ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS
- PART I. THE RURAL-LIFE PROBLEM
- INTRODUCTION 3
- CHAPTER I. CHANGES IN THE NATURE OF RURAL LIFE
6
Four periods of development:—
I. The first period, up to 1830:—Early pioneer life—Markets—Trading—Subsistence farming.
II. The second period, 1830-1860:—A period of transformation—Rise of commerce and manufacturing—Home and school.
III. The third period, 1860-1890:—Homestead laws—Inventions and developments—The home-builder farmer—Expansion and overdevelopment—The cityward migration—Saving in farm labor—The result. - CHAPTER II. NEW RURAL-LIFE CONDITIONS
29
IV. The fourth-period development:—Fourth-period characteristics—Importance of the changes.
I. The urbanization of rural life:—Changes in rural living—New rural conveniences—Better homes—The new rural life—The town movement.
II. Reorganization and commercialization of agriculture:—The U.S. Department of Agriculture—New agricultural development—New markets—Agricultural expansion—The future—Commercialized large-scale farming—Intensive small-scale farming—Decreasing rural population.
III. Farm tenantry:—Recent increase—Recent change in character—New tenants—The Southern Negro tenant—The intermittent farm laborer—The fourth-period changes—Significance of the changes. - page: viii[View Page viii]
- CHAPTER III. EFFECTS OF THESE CHANGES ON
RURAL SOCIETY AND RURAL INSTITUTIONS 63
I. New rural social life:—Early social life—New and larger interests—City connections—Enjoyment of life—Tenantry and social life—Degenerate rural life.
II. Local government—Loss of interest in—The new tenants and government.—Effects of the change.
III. The church:—The rural church—The New England influence—Large influence of the early church—Early religious intensity—The intellectual revolution—Social nature of the old Sunday meeting—The process of church decline—Dying churches—Problems which the church faces to-day—Great potential usefulness, nevertheless—Social mission of the rural church—The teacher and the church problem. - CHAPTER IV. EFFECTS OF THESE CHANGES ON THE
RURAL SCHOOL 83
Origin of the district school—At first a purely local undertaking—The demand for state schools—The second-period school—The early schoolmaster—Efficiency of the education for the time.
Changes in rural education after about 1870—The change in direction—The city-school influence—Decline in efficiency—The rural school and the fourth-period changes—New fourth-period demands—Gradual desertion of the rural school.
Present inadequacy of the old education—Breakdown of the old administrative machinery—Increasing needs and costs—The burden of taxation—Present plight of the rural school. - CHAPTER V. RURAL LIFE AND NEEDS OF TO-DAY
104
Reconstruction and reorganization necessary—The educational deficiency—The great rural social problem—Ownership vs. tenantry—Important rural economic interests—Great rural interests are human interests.
Fundamental rural needs:—1. Better schools—Retention of personality—The school and personality—2. Larger life and outlook—3. Better homes—Better kitchens—4. A community center. Early centers for the community life—Can the church become such now—Need of a program for social work—Need for coöperation—Rural organizations—The rural library—The school—5. Community life—Constructive rural service—The call for rural service—Meaning of the country-life movement. - page: ix[View Page ix]
- CHAPTER VI. SOME WORTHY EXAMPLES OF
RURAL
SERVICE 131
I. Church organizations:—1. A rural church—2. A village church—3. District nursing.
II. Organizations for young people:—1. Y.M.C.A.—2. Y.W.C.A.—3. Boy Scouts, and Camp-fire Girls—4. Agricultural Clubs.
III. The rural library—Examples of such service.
IV. Farmers' organizations:—The Grange—The Hesperia movement.
V. Organizations for agricultural improvement—The farmers' institute—The county farm expert.
ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS
- PART II. THE RURAL-SCHOOL PROBLEM
- CHAPTER VII. FUNDAMENTAL NEEDS IN
RURAL
EDUCATION 163
The school and democracy—The decline of the district school—The result of recent changes—Rural school still of large importance—Poor rural schools not necessary—The recent criticism from without—The recent rural-life movement—The away-from-the-farm influence in rural education—Need of redirecting the school—Difficulties to be encountered—Commission had to say—Revitalizing the school—Legitimate functions of the redirected school—A group of problems involved. - CHAPTER VIII. ORGANIZATION AND MAINTENANCE
177
I. Types of organization:—1. The district system—Its essential features—Evolution of district organization—District powers and duties—Curtailing the powers in the interests of efficiency—Where the district system rendered service—Chief objections to the district system—Excessive number of school officers—2. The town or township system—The New England town system—Town vs. district control—The Western township system—3. The county system—The county unit in evolution—Advantages of the county system—4. The state unit.
II. Types of maintenance:—General taxation for education—1. District taxation—Changes in wealth and education—2. Town or township taxation—Town and township inequalities—3. County taxation—Equalizing effect of a county school tax—4. State taxation—General vs. local effort—Systems of distribution—Fundamental needs for rural-school progress. - page: x[View Page x]
- CHAPTER IX. THE TEACHING EQUIPMENT
206
The need for better equipment:—1. The building—The type—Why they persist—A common condition—Limitations to instruction—The cheap building—Fundamental needs in a school building—Library, science, and work rooms—2. The site—The site for instruction purposes—The site and aesthetic training—3. Teaching equipment—Needed teaching apparatus—4. School library.
City and country compared—Better equipment essential—Difficulties in the way—The need of educational reorganization. - CHAPTER X. THE REORGANIZATION OF
RURAL
EDUCATION
226
The multiplication of districts—The present result—Recent attempts to improve conditions—The root of the difficulty—Equal rights for the country child. The consolidation movement—Beginnings—The plan in Ohio—The essentials of the plan—Advantages of the plan—Disadvantages of the plan—Inaugurating the movement—The common plan—Township unit; stranded districts—The county-unit plan—The county-survey plan—Advantages of the county unit.
The need for such reorganizations—Such schools natural community centers—A community school illustrated—A state reorganization. - CHAPTER XI. A NEW CURRICULUM
256
The old curriculum—Why such instruction continues—Recent attempts to change these conditions—The old traditional curriculum—Arithmetic—Grammar and language—Geography—Physiology and hygiene—History.
Redirecting the school—New instructional needs—Nature study and agriculture—What can be taught—How such instruction works—Domestic science—Manual training—Organized play—The new and the old compared—Possible correlations—How far is such redirection possible—The rural high school—Redirecting the high school—The country boy who goes to the city. - page: xi[View Page xi]
- CHAPTER XII. A NEW TEACHER
283
A new teacher needed—Training and wages compared—The natural result—The remedy—Importance of the wage question—Present status of teacher training—New attention to the rural-teacher problem.
Teachers' training classes—Nature of the instruction offered—Why such courses are inadequate—Probable future development—A suggested one-year course—Explanations of—What such a course prepares for—The rural high-school teacher—The call for rural leadership—Possibilities for usefulness—Personal attitude; steps in the process. - CHAPTER XIII. A NEW TYPE OF SUPERVISION
306
Larger rural leadership—The county unit in evolution—.The evolution of the school superintendency—New conception of the office—Our present supervision—The system to blame—Present conditions in the county office—Why the cities draw the best—Where the fault lies—Stock arguments—The way out—What democracy should mean.
A reorganized county system—The county board—The plan applied—The gain in supervision—Bad features it would eliminate. - CHAPTER XIV. NOTEWORTHY EXAMPLES IN
RURAL EDUCATION
328
I: A one-room rural school—Its building and equipment.
II. A consolidated school—Its building, equipment, and work. III. A county-unit school system—The county board—The slow development, and the present conditions—The work of the county superintendent—The present excellent county system—The five reasons for it. - page: xii[View Page xii]
-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
349
-
INDEX
363
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Facing
- Primitive Conditions—Subsistence Farming 12
- A Farmhouse of the Home-Builder Period 13
-
Per Cent Land in Farms forms of Total Land Area, by
Counties: 1910 30 -
Per Cent Improved Land in Farms forms of Total Land Area,
by Counties: 1910 31 - University Extension in Agriculture 58
- New Farm Workers and Owners 59
- The District School—Primitive Conditions 92
- Satisfying the Social Instincts of Youth 112
- Lads from the Farms at a College Lecture on Corn 148
- An Automobile that has taught a County to read 149
- One of the Local Meetings for Community Improvement 149
- Where the District System Rendered Service 184
- A Common Type of Schoolhouse Site 216
- School Ground Decoration 217
- Different Means for transporting Pupils 236
- New Forms of Instruction, I 268
- New Forms of Instruction, II 269
- Rural High-School Instruction, I 280
- Rural High-School Instruction, II 281
- Teaching Country Children in Terms of Country Life 290
- A Rural School Exhibit 304
- Boys' Session of the Farmers' Institute 305
- The Model Rural School at the Kirksville, Missouri, Normal School 328
- The Harlem Consolidated School, Winnebago County, Ill. I 334
- The Harlem Consolidated School, II 335
- The Harlem Consolidated School, III 338
- The Harlem Consolidated School, IV 339
FIGURES, DIAGRAMS, AND MAPS
- Showing Recent Rapid Growth of Urban Population8
- An Early Home11
- The United States in 185017
- Development of Farms. East North-central Division19
- Development of Farms. West North-central Division20
- Value per Acre of Farm Property23
- Development of Farms24
- Distribution of Population by Decades25
- Relative Rates of Increase in Population and Production27
- Per Cent Land in Farms forms of Total Land Area, by Counties: 1910 facing 30
- Per Cent Improved Land in Farms forms of Total Land Area, by Counties: 1910 facing 31
- Farm Property Values per Acre43
- Black Counties in Georgia48
- Per Cent of Increase in Rural Population, by States, 1900-191049
- Changes in the Rural Population in Eight Important Agricultural States50
- Acreage of all Land in Farms classified by Character of Tenure of Operator, 191053
- Percentage of Foreign-born Whites, and Native Whites of Foreign or Mixed Parentage combined, in the Total Population, 191057
- Average Value per Acre of Farm Property67
- The Polish Farmers'-Day Poster70
- Typical One-Room Rural Churches73
- An Overchurched Indiana Township78
- A Typical Early School Interior, I84
- A Typical Early School Interior, II86
- A Schoolmaster of the Old Type87
- Decreasing Percentage of Men Teachers91
- Increasing Cost of Education, per Pupil, in Average Daily Attendance99
- Increasing Length of Term, in Days101
- Results shown by the Census of 1910109
- Percentage of Total Population in Rural Districts, 1910112
- A Community Center of Large Influence, in the Wrong Direction118
- Diagram of a Country Community-Center119
- Union Church, Proctor, Vermont121
- The Original Church132
- The New Institutional Church135
- Y.M.C.A.—City and Rural Development140
- page: xiv[View Page xiv]
- Y.M.C.A. County Work143
- A Traveling Library in a Farmhouse147
- The Clinton Plan for Agricultural Betterment157
- The School by the Wayside164
- A One-Pupil Class165
- A Typical Run-down Schoolhouse167
- A Typical Rural School of the Better Class171
- Forms of School Organization179
- Early Organization of School Districts181
- Later Organization and Reorganization182
- New England Towns and Western Townships compared187
- A Typical Present-Day Interior208
- A Typical Weather-boarded Box209
- A More Attractive Exterior210
- A Rearranged Interior211
- A Suggested Exterior213
- A Model Interior for a One-Teacher Rural Schoolhouse214
- An Ohio School Site216
- Progress of Consolidation in Indiana by 1908231
- Diagram of Gustavus Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, showing Transportation Routes232
- Central Public School, Trumbull County, Ohio234
- The Ordinary Road to Learning236
- One of the Landmarks240
- Where Consolidation started in Ohio241
- Map showing Extent of School Consolidation in Delaware County, Indiana, 1908242
- Stranded Districts244
- Map showing Consolidated Districts and Location of Consolidated Schoolhouses in Duval County, Florida245
- Douglas County, Minnesota246
- Douglas County, Minnesota, reorganized247
- Details for District XIV248
- Map of Ada County, Idaho, showing the Boundaries of the School Districts and the Location of Rural District Schools and High Schools, 1908249
- Same County, illustrating a Tentative Plan of Consolidation250
- A Community-Center School252
- First-Floor Plan of a Community-Center School253
- A Reading Chart for Rural Schools266
- Township Supervision in Ohio312
- Basement Plan of Model Rural School330
- First-Floor Plan of Model Rural School332
- Attic Plan of Model Rural School333
- The Harlem Consolidated School Grounds, Winnebago County, Illinois337
