-PGn NORMAL SCHOOL QUARTERLY Series 18 July, 1920 Number 76 PART I THE SMALL RURAL COMMUNITY: ITS LIFE AND EDUCATION PART II THE RURAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF THE ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY BY H. A. BONE Rural Education Department Entered August 18, 1902, at Normal, Illinois, as second-class matter under Act of Congress of July 16, 1894 N. B. — Any teacher in Illinois may get The Normal School Quarterly regularly by sending name and address, and by giving prompt notis of any change of address. When a word has two authorized forms of spelling, the shorter form is used. [Printed by the authority of the State of Illinois] it THE NORMAL SCHOOL QUARTER LY Series 18 July, 1920 Number 76 PART I THE SMALL RURAL COMMUNITY: ITS LIFE AND EDUCATION PART II THE RURAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF THE ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY BY H. A. BONE Rural Education Department Entered August 18, 1902, at Normal, Illinois, as second-class matter under Act of Congress of July 16, 1894 N. B. — Any teacher in Illinois may get The Normal School Quarterly regularly by sending name and address, and by giving prompt notis of any change of address. When a word has two authorized forms of spelling, the shorter form is used. [Printed by the authority of the State of Illinois] FOREWORD "It seems clear that it wil be many years before normal schools, if ever, wil address themselvs to the problem of preparing teachers for the rural schools." The above quotation is taken from the report of a committee on rural education of the National Education Association in 1912. Fortu- nately this was not an accurate forecast. Information filed with the Bureau of Education in 1918 showed that 77 normal schools had special departments of rural education, and that 63 others offerd special courses designd to be of special help to country-school teachers. However, country schools ar rapidly becoming centralized thru the organization of larger districts which usually include the rural village and country town. This new type of school demands a specially traind teacher quite as much as the one-room country school. There is a growing sentiment that the rural village and the country town ar rural and should hav a rural type of school. To meet this changing educa- tional reorganization and this changing sentiment, the normal schools ar enlarging their rural education departments. Part I of this bulletin seeks to outline this new conception of the rural community as it is taking form in social and educational recon- struction, and to discus some of the educational needs of this type of community. There is evidence that the area included in some of the consolidated, or centralized, school districts does not constitute a com- munity. In order that rural social and educational re-organization may be efficient and permanent, the physical and psychical community cen- ters and boundaries must be determind. Moreover, a clear concept of what constitutes a community must be perfected. Illustrations of a few typical communities are shown at the close of Part I. Part II is a description of the opportunities offerd by the Illinois State Normal University for the training of teachers and supervisors for work in one-room country schools and in the rural village and country town which ar rightly coming to be considerd rural rather than urban, and which ar rapidly becoming the educational centers of the entire rural community. springfield, ill. Illinois State Journal Co., State Printers. 19 2 35328—3500 Normal School Quarterly Publisht by the Illinois State Normal University, Normal, Illinois Series 18 JULY, 1920 No. 76 Part I THE SMALL RURAL COMMUNITY: ITS LIFE AND EDUCATION THE AMERICAN PRINCIPLE We in America profess to hav accepted the principle of democracy. We committed ourselvs to that principle in our Delcaration of Inde- pendence. When our constitutional fathers met to draw up the outlines of our government at Philadelphia in the spring of 1787 they embodied this thought in the preamble to the constitution. We ar emerging from a great war during which we reiterated to the world that our reason for participating in that great struggle was to do our part in establish- ing this principle thruout the world for the benefit of men of every race, clime, and religion. EQUALITY OF SOCIAL ADVANTAGES The true democrat believs that while aristocracy of welth, power, position, birth, education, culture, or social advantage may be gratifying to the few, it does not bring the largest mesure of satisfaction to the many. He believs that in the main all raees of men hav the capacity for development and enjoyment, and the right to those things which bring development and satisfaction. Furthermore, he believs that the fullest mesure of enjoyment does not come to men who do not associate upon a basis of equality. He believs that, while all men may not hav been created equal it is possible to bring about a state of society in which there wil be provided an equality of access to advantages. He believs that while man may only partially control innate mental endow- ments or bodily physical power, he can control social institutions in such a way as to democratize social advantages. Believing this, he holds that no matter to what race a man belongs, no matter what legitimate occupation he may follow, and no matter in what community he may liv, whether it be one rich in material resources or one with few material advantages, this man has a right to those things which answer to the fundamental cravings of human nature at its best. 4 The Normal School Quarterly It is sometimes objected that because inequalities of advantages hav always existed they always wil, and that while the ideal of equality of opportunity is fine, as something to contemplate, yet it is imprac- ticable and unattainable, hence visionary. This the true democrat does not concede. He holds that anything which is fundamentally right and just is attainable. He points out that not many years ago slavery was considerd inevitable because some races had always been regarded in- ferior and held in slavery; human nature being what it is, some men would always be slaves. But slavery has disappeard from the states and from all civilized countries. That same argument has been brought forward as an objec- tion to every advance which has ever been made, but the forward move- ment goes on, and the objectors ar forgotten, or ar rememberd with a kind of charitable contempt for their narrowness of vision. The theme of the history of the race may be said to be man's struggle so to shape his institutions as to equalize advantages. In this respect the race is yet young in progress made, but it is advancing and fortunately we always hav seers and prophets who hav ideals and visions and who ar not deterrd from seeking to realize them by the old argument that cer- tain inequalities and injustices must persist simply because they always hav existed. THE SMALL RURAL COMMUNITY DISADVANTAGED During the last thirty years a movement of population in this country seems to indicate that life offers more satisfaction in cities than in small communities. This was first noted to a markt degree in the census of 1900. The same tendency was shown by the census of 1910 when the report showd that while cities had increast in population 34.8 per cent, the country towns, rural villages, and open country had in- creast only 11.2 per cent. The figures of the census of 1920 ar not yet tabulated, but local censuses seem to indicate that the tide is stil running to the cities. During the first decade of this century, President Roosevelt's com- mission, appointed to investigate the cause for this movement, reported that the members of the small community gave five reasons: (1) poor economic conditions; (2) lack of communication; (3) lack of social attractivness ; (4) helth consideration; and (5) poor educational facili- ties. If the principle of democracy is to be accepted, we can not con- sistently permit such an inequality to continue. A Pioneer Type of One-Room School A "Superior" One-Room School The Small Rural Community : Its Life and Education 5 THE LARGE NUMBER AFFECTED And this inequality affects more than a small number of our people. The census of 1910 classifies as "rural" all communities of less than 2,500 people. There ar 12,000 of these small rural communities in the United States. These 12,000 small communities hav 10,000,000 people living in country towns and rural villages, and 44,000,000 people in the open country. This does not include the small town with a higher educational institution, the small suburb of a city, the factory- ownd village, or mining or lumber camp. We hav about 54,000,000 people who liv in small rural communities whose main vocational con- cern is agriculture or closely associated with agriculture and whose manner of living is modified by this main concern. That is, that num- ber of communities and that many people ar conceded to be disad- vantaged in five respects when compared with the 2,500 cities with their population somewhat less in number. IMPORTANCE OF STRONG RURAL STOCK Should we set aside as visionary the belief that the people of the small community hav a right to the same mesure of satisfaction as those of the city, there is yet another reason for maintaining an equality of opportunity. Should we assume that the boys and girls of the small community ar not in justis entitled to the same opportunities for development and recreation and education, and helth as their cousins in the city, there is yet another reason why our future prosperity, and further yet, our very existence depends upon maintaining a strong, sturdy, and increasingly intelligent stock in the small rural community. They ar the people who ar producing the cereals, vegetables, and fruits, and meats for our tables. They ar producing the cotton, and wool, and flax, and hides, for our clothing. This country knows too wel the inconvenience and the hardships incident to the shutting down of some of our industries in the cities. Workers in some of these in- dustries at times rather loudly maintain that the world could not get along without them, and ar sometimes disposed to use this power to their own advantage. Should the 44,000,000 people living in the open country however decide to limit their production to the needs of them- selvs and their village neighbors, and to let none of their products leave the small community, one year would suffice to show that the people who ar really essential ar the rural people. It is convenient to hav coal to burn, and steel for construction, and railroads for transportation, but life has been maintaind and even some of the creature comforts secured without any of them. The rural community may get along 6 The Normal School Quarterly without many of the fabricated articles of the city, but the city can not get along without the products of the small community. But to pass from an unlikely to a possible situation, our population will go on increasing, hence the demand for more food and clothing. So far as we know, our acreage of land wil not materially increas. Its average productivity, so far as strength of soil is concernd, is not now what it was fifty years ago. It is reasonable to infer that it wil require more intelligence to produce an ever-increasing amount from the same acreage of somewhat depleted soil than it ever has before. Self-preservation alone makes it necessary that a sufficient number continue to engage in tilling the soil and to liv in the related rural village and country town to keep up the production of fundamental necessities. It is necessary that those so engaged maintain a physical vigor and an increasing intelligence to meet the growing needs of a population becoming ever larger. Economic need alone would make it good business to offer whatever attractions ar necessary to preserv the balance between city and rural community population. NO VALID REASON FOR DISADVANTAGES OF SMALL COMMUNITY There is no reason inherent in the small community, as a com- munity, for its having these five disadvantages. In fact, there is con- siderable evidence that the small community is a more normal group in size than the city. There is evidence that the small community may equal the city in everyone of the items pointed out by the Commission, but the same thought has not been given to the improvement of the small community as to the city. CAUSES OF IMPROVEMENT OF CITIES The phenomenal growth of ou\ cities has raised many difficult problems, renderd more difficult because of our inexperience with cities. Methods of municipal government had to be evolvd. School systems adapted to city children had to be pland. Problems of poverty, unem- plyoment, vice, sanitation, amusement, parks, playgrounds, swet-shops, child labor, crowded tenements, and foren peoples prest for solution. These wer so apparent and so insistent that the serious thought and attention of the best thinkers of the country wer directed toward their solution. A commendable degree of progress has been made. Parks, play- grounds, and recreation centers hav been establisht. Advance has been made in the administration of city government. City school systems ar better meeting the needs of city children. The s wet-shop is not so The Small Rural Community: Its Life and Education 7 common. Better housing prevails. Sanitary provisions hav been made. Public libraries hav been bilt. More attention is given our foren popu- lation. Living conditions in general hav been improved. Much yet remains to be done, but the most difficult steps hav been taken, and progress wil doubtless be more rapid in the future. Community coun- cils and city planning commissions ar mobilizing the resources and co-ordinating the efforts of the city for present needs and future wel- fare. The secret of the advance of the city lies in collectiv action. The problems of the city wer apparent and insistent. It was found that an individual here and there, working without co-operation, could not make the desired progress. The same was true of small groups working independently. Cities which hav and ar making the most progress ar those which hav lernd to co-ordinate but not duplicate. They hav lernd to tax themselvs for common benefits which could not be secured thru individual or small-group effort. This is the great principle of social advance. There ar funda- mental needs which ar met by the family relationship and can be met in no other way. There ar some needs which may be met by a small group of families, the "neighborhood." Man's gregarious instincts however ar not satisfied by family and neighborhood associations alone. There ar certain social satisfactions which ar secured by larger groups, and there ar certain institutions designd to meet these needs which can not be efficient unless supported by a group larger than the family or the neighborhood. On the other hand, the group may be too large. Among lower animals, there is a proper size of efficiency for the herd, the flock, the swarm, or the pack, a minimum and a maximum, which determins the number composing it. Below this, the group does not prosper, probably perishes. Beyond this, the .group divides into separate units. In social life, the law of diminishing returns is operativ just as in economic life. THE COMMUNITY GROUP There is a group which may support an efficient church, an efficient school system, make proper provision for helth and recreation, and sociability. A smaller group may hav a weak struggling church, an inefficient school, and unsatisfactory provisions for sociability. A larger group may be compelled to multiply the size of these institutions beyond the point of efficiency, or to multiply the number of social agencies and institutions, which tends to lessen the sense of group solidarity. The social group of sufficient size to support its own trading center, its own mail center, its own recreation center, and its own sociability, 8 The Normal School Quarterly educational and religious center, without unnecessary duplication of social agencies we may term a community. It has been said that the city has lernd the value of co-operation, and because of this has been able to offer special attractions to its own inhabitants and to draw many of the residents of the small community to it. The small rural community has not lernd this lesson. It has not done so because its problems hav been less insistent. The city was confronted by intolerable conditions which led to thought- ful attention to the discovery and application of remedies. The neces- sity for co-operativ action was sharp and cald for immediate relief. Failure to act brought immediate and evident undesirable consequences. On the other hand, it took several decades for the lack of co-operativ action to become very apparent in the life of the rural community, and finally in the life of the nation. The barrenness of the intensely indi- vidualistic and isolated life of the pioneer period was thought to be of necessity the only possible life outside the city, hence little effort was made to secure those satisfactions which come by the co-operation of several neighborhoods. The necessity for community action was not brought to the foreground. The failure to realize this has prevented the development of those social attractions which make any community a desirable place in which to liv for those who ar not satisfied with the more primitiv life of the pioneer. This has resulted in an exodus of many of the most activ and wide-awake members of the small com- munity. The first step toward making the small community as socially attractiv as the city is for it to realize the advantage of collectiv effort over individual or family or neighborhood effort. It is important, not only that the superiority of community action over the effort of an individual or of a small group of individuals be recognized. It is necessary to establish a clear concept of what con- stitutes a community. There is evidence that some unwise policies hav been followd in attempting to improve life in small communities thru failure to understand the term. In some instances, open country neigh- borhoods hav attempted to improve their schools by combining two or three neighborhood schools. The same effort has been directed toward strengthening the country church, and in two or three instances a neigh- borhood house has been erected in the open country. COUNTRY AND VILLAGE NOT CO-ORDINATED This has grown out of the belief that the open country is not re- lated or should not be related to the village or small town which is a product of the open country and is stil linkt with it. On the other The Small Rural Community: Its Life and Education 9 hand, the village and small town hav attempted to reorganize their life and social policies as though they wer not related to the surrounding open country from which they draw their sustenance. There hav been those who would organize the life of the open country in such a way as to disconnect it with the village in every respect, except for business purposes, and there has been a tendency on the part of the small town to separate itself from the country. Except in an insolated open-country area of considerable extent and only remotely connected with its trading center, this policy has not proved wise. There has been lacking the incentiv of numbers, and it has violated a fundamental principle of community organization. The more natural interests which may be organized around one center the stronger wil be the current of community spirit. There is no natural division of interest between the open country and the small town which grew out of it. The economic interest of the open country gave rise to the village. When unimpeded, the village in most instances became the mail center, the political center, the religious center, the recreational center. There is increasing evidence that the village is becoming the recognized geografic, and as a result the psychical center, of rural com- munity life. Those small communities which today ar making the most satisfactory readjustments ar those which hav establisht this one com- mon center with the trade boundary, the religious boundary, the recrea- tional boundary, and the educational boundary, coterminous. LOSS TO THE VILLAGE AND COUNTRY TOWN The rural village and country town hav lost by this erroneous idea of separateness of interests from the open country. Too often they hav aped the city. They often resent being termd "rural." The small country town has lackt the spirit of co-operation and community action, which has characterized the city, and it has lackt many of the advantages of the open country. It has the tendency to copy the city without hav- ing the conditions of the city, and it often "feels above" the open country. As a result, the rural village has been in a worse condition socially than either the city or the open country. There is more truth than fiction in the old adage, "God made the country, man made the city, but the devil made the small town." It has been said, "When you think it over, it seems as if the worst problem for the boy or girl may be life in a half-grown village or small town. There we may not hav either the helthful work of the farm or the wide variety of interests of the city. Poor shows ar degrading, but 10 The Normal School Quarterly the town can not afford high-class ones. Churches ar likely to be weak and perhaps too numerous. Gambling clubs and 'speak easies' ar likely to be common, and many a boy or girl gets a downward start in such a place." * As a result, the most ambitious young people ar leaving the rural village and country in quite as large numbers as they hav the open country, and they will continue to do so until the true concept of what constitutes the rural community is establisht and attempt made by the entire community as a community to make social life more attractiv. RECENT CHANGES IN ATTITUDE However, the past few years hav brought about a change in their attitude towards each other. Better roads, the trolley, and more especi- ally the automobile, hav brought the farmer to the village and sent the villager to the country. The farmers' elevator, the co-operativ creamery, and the country bank, all of which ar usually backt by farm and village capital and managed by boards of directors composed of both farmers and villagers, hav tended to break down the feeling of separateness between the two. In fact, it is not uncommon for a farmer to be presi- dent of the bank or elevator company. In the close association for business purposes, gatherd around a common industry, differences in places of residence hav been forgotten and each is beginning to realize that after all it is bound to the other by bonds of business and com- munity interest. This presages a better day for the small rural community. Some years ago Professor Bailey said, "If the rural village, freed from urban influences, could then become a real integrating part of the open country surroundings, all parties would be servd better than now/' 2 President Roosevelt's commission reported that "The country town has similar interests with the open country about it." 3 Dr. Vogt writes, "There is evidence on every hand that the village is becoming more and more the center of rural life. The data presented in the discussion of the tendencies in the rural church show that the open-country church is giving way to the village church as a religious center. The village is becoming the center of the recreational life of the open country. It is also tending to become the educational center of rural life. It has been for many years the industrial or market center of the countryside." 4 As we get a clearer concept of what constitutes a rural community we shal realize that the small country town and adjacent open country 1 Hughes' Community Civics, pp. 468. 2 The Country Life Movement, pp. 27. 8 Report of Country Life Commission, pp. 148. 4 Introduction to Rural Sociology, pp. 341. The Small Rural Community : Its Life and Education 11 constitute a social group, rural in interest and with common social problems of a nature distinct from those of the city. Since the findings of the Commission on Country Life hav been made known, life in the open country has improved in some respects. Better economic conditions prevail. Progressiv farmers hav organized farm bureaus. ^Agricultural advisers hav been employd, and farmers' sons ar receiving encouragement to study agriculture just as prospectiv doctors ar taking special training in medicine. Production is being increast by the application of scientific principles. Farming is becom- ing a business. There is an improvement in the means of communica- tion. Little has been done, however, to improve helth, increase social attractivness or improve educational facilities in any fundamental way in most parts of the country. SOCIAL ATTRACTIVNESS NECESSARY The small rural community must be economically prosperous. This is a basic necessity. Further social improvement is impossible without it. But so long as the small community must go to the city for recrea- tion and sociability and for better educational facilities, just that long wil it be draind of its best resources. Eural life must be made socially attractiv. This wil be secured only thru the co-operativ effort of the entire community acting as a community in mobilizing its own resources. Proper educational facilities wil be afforded only when the entire com- munity co-operates in securing a community school fitted especially to the needs of the small rural community. We must cease thinking of improvements in economic welfare alone or in terms of the single family or of the neighborhood, but rather of the increast attractivness of all- round living in terms of the entire community. AWAKENING OF COMMUNITY SPIRIT During the war we had a demonstration of the efficiency of the nation when fixing its thought and energy upon the one idea, "Win the War." This was done by mobilizing the capabilities of all the social units of the entire country. It was only when the neighborhood groups, the church groups, the vocational groups, the small town and open country came together as a community and organized upon a community basis that they wer able to carry every war drive to a successful con- clusion. For over a year every small community of the country lived in an atmosphere of community co-operation. We realize now the ad- vantage of community action over that of the small group. It remains for us to continue this community spirit in the solution of social problems. 12 The Normal School Quarterly SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF SMALL COMMUNITY DISTINCTIV An analysis of the life and social problems of the open country, rural village, and small country town shows that they ar somewhat distinct from those of the city. In the former, agriculture is the maiu concern, and the life and occupations of those in the village ar con- ditiond by their agricultural environment. The village and country town hav grown out the open country and remain linkt with it, hence ar still "rural." The social problems ar those of a people bound together as a community of small numbers with residences scatter d, and with less specialization of occupation than the city. The social problems of the city ar those of larger masses of people with residences compactly situated, and of people directly concernd with the more specialized occupations of industry and trade. The small rural community is occupied with the first steps in the production of crops from the soil and with the problems of the small social group. The city is occupied with the fabrication of raw materials, with their marketing, and distribution, and with the social problems incidental to the large group. NECESSITY FOR DISTINCTIV TYPE OF SCHOOL It is evident that the social institutions of the two types of com- munities should be somewhat distinct as the social problems of each ar distinct. It follows that the schools of the small rural community should be of a type peculiarly suited to itself, and that the school adapted to the city should be somewhat different from that of an agri- cultural community. The material presented in the various school sub- jects wil differ to some extent just as the out-of -school experiences of the children differ. It is also possible and desirable to make some differ- ence in manner of presenting material. It is also evident that the one-room country school is not a type of school in harmony with the advancing ideas of social organization. It is the result of neighborhood effort in education rather than community effort. It was the best solution of the problem of education for the period which cald it into existence and it did a wonderful work. Like the "doubleshovel" for plowing corn, and the "cradle" for cutting wheat, it met the need of the times better than any educational attempt made before for democratizing lerning under pioneer conditions; but it does not belong to the age of the tractor and self-binder. It is a heritage of the pioneer period persisting on down into an age when few people who can help themselvs ar satisfied to liv under pioneer conditions. School children belong to this helpless class and must continue to be educated The Small Rural Community : Its Life and Education 13 with the same educational machinery as their pioneer gradfathers until their fathers and the taxpayers see fit to reorganize educational facilities on the same modern basis as they conduct their money-making activities. However, there ar some fields which cannot be cultivated or the grain harvested with modern implements. It is better in such instances to use the cradle and the double-shovel than to let these fields lie totally fallow. For them, let us continue to make the best cradles and doubie- shovels possible. In like manner, the one-room school wil persist for a long time in neighborhoods so situated geografically that they ar not integral parts of a community, or in which roads and means of trans- portation ar stil in a primitiv state. It wil persist in other backward neighborhoods which ar slow to recognize the advantage of community effort over neighborhood effort in education. In neighborhoods like these, the obvious thing to do is to make the one-room school just as efficient as it is possible for a one-room, ungraded school to be. If we had Mabel Carneys and Mrs. Porters enough to go around, we should hav much better one-room schools than we now hav, but we hav few teachers of their type and even they do not long continue as teachers in the neighborhood schools. The schools of the rural village and country town usually seek to imitate a city school, and with poor success. As we get the concept that the rural village or country town together with the surrounding open country constitute a community, and that education is a need best met by community action, we shal bild a type of school which wil be peculiarly fitted for rural community conditions. It wil be a type dis- t'nctly pland to utilize the rich life experience of boys and girls who do not suffer the educativ-experience privations and over-stimulations of the boys and girls of the city. RICH LIFE EXPERIENCES OE THE SMALL COMMUNITY CHILD It is evident that the child of the small rural community conies to school with a fund of experiences different from those of his city cousin. In the open country, he has had first-hand contact with plants and animals, has taken part in productiv activity, and knows the meaning of responsibility. To only a little less degree, the child of the rural village or country town has had the same experiences. His own home carries on the semi-rural activities such as gardening, poultry-raising, fruit-culture and probably keeps a cow and pigs. He is in touch with farm activities because he livs in an agricultural community. It is significant that the benefit of such experiences as these ar so highly valued by some city fathers that they hav attempted to supply 14 The Normal School Quarterly these first-hand contacts at great expense for their own boys by estab- lishing schools outside of the city with gardens, orchards, poultry, live- stock, and small farms, for which the boys ar responsible. In these schools, the content of the school subjects — arithmetic, geometry, physics, chemistry, drawing, annual training, English composition, etc. — is based more or less upon the problems growing out of this first-hand contact with realities. It has cost much to create these advantages, but the boys and girls of the country town and farm hav them as a part of their everyday life, yet the schools in these small communities hav ignored them and sought to copy the city school. RURAL EDUCATION MUST BE "RURALIZED" English, both spoken and written, mathematics, science, and all school subjects should hav for their purpose the development of a com- mand of the technique of living. A mastery of these subjects and the ability to use them properly ar secured in the most economical way when they ar acquired thru life situations. This being true, children should come to books thru a desire to clear up problems growing out of first- hand contact with life situations. Books hav value only as they accom- pany or follow experience. This first-hand contact is much more lacking in the life of the city child, hence the tendency to crowd books upon him which he has diffi- culty in interpreting. The child of the rural community has rich life experiences and he should hav a type of school which would utilize them, a type distinct from that of the city. The content of his science, mathematics, and other school subjects should be drawn from rural environment. The principles of all subjects, of course, ar the same, but the activities and phenomena from which they may be taught ar distinct. This new type of school wil not only be a community school, but it wil be distinctiv, not an imitation of a city school. It wil hav; a teacher of agriculture who is employd twelv months in the year and available for the boys below the high-school age as wel as for the high- school boys. His work wil be based upon the projects of the boys on the farm. For the boys in the village, the school wil hav a small farm. On this the town boys may hav, like the country boys, corn projects, potato projects, milk cow projects, sow and pig projects, orchard pro- jects, etc., out of which wil grow problems of physics, chemistry, arith- metic, geometry, oral and written composition, the construction of hog houses, poultry houses, corn cribs, work in concrete, harness mending, etc. The Small Rural Community: Its Life and Education 15 Working with the agricultural teacher will be the teacher of manual training also employd by the year. During the summer they would go about the community helping the boys with their projects on the farm, and the town boys with the school farm. The teachers of mathematics, science, and English would correlate the work of their departments, so far as possible, with these home projects. The teacher of home econo- mics would also be useful during the summer directing the canning, preserving, summer dress making, and other projects of the girls. The English teacher might be selected with a view to having her direct the home talent plays and theatricals of the community. She would find much to be done during the summer, direct the Fourth of July pageant for instance, put on by the entire community, hence should be employd by the year. The physical training teacher, who would also be instructor in hygiene, would spend his summer directing the community out-door sports and playground work, and the music teacher would be busy with the community band, orchestra and choral clubs. THE COMMUNITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Unfortunately, in Illinois we hav not advanced the community school movement as it has been in some other states. So far as com- munity action for high-school purposes is concerned, we ar in the lead. It is reported that over 170 communities since last July hav established community schools for the benefit of boys and girls of high-school age. It is significant that we no longer hear of new "township" high schools. They ar "community" high schools. It indicates that we ar recognizing the significance of grouping ourselvs by social units rather than by political areas. It seems unfortunate, however, that we ar slower to recognize the needs of the boys and girls below the high school, many of whom get no farther than the elementary school. The work of the first eight years is the most important of all. The subsequent advance even of those fortunate ones who go on thru high school is conditiond by the character of their early school training, and a neighborhood school is just as inefficient for grade school work as it is for high-school work. We ar not democratizing the educational opportunities of the children of the small community so long as we provide better advantages for the few who go to high school than for those who do not. However, there is evidence that this inequality wil not long persist. As we see the value of community action over neighborhood action in providing high-school privileges, we shal apply the community prin- ciple to our schools of lower grade as wel. Another thing, we shal 16 The Normal School Quarterly hav secured a clear concept of what constitutes a social unit or com- munity. Because of this we shal arrange our community school bound- aries and organize our community schools upon a more scientific basis than that followd in some of the earlier attempts at educational recon- struction in other states. To secure the best results, we must establish clearly the concept of what constitutes a community. We must be able to determin its physical and geographic center and boundary, and above all, we must recognize the advantage of community action over indi- vidual action, or family action, or neighborhood action in satisfying the educational needs of human life. A DISTINCTIV TYPE OF TEACHER NEEDED The small rural community not only must hav a school peculiar to itself. It must hav teachers with a type of training somewhat distinct from that of the city. In the first place, they must not be "city-minded." They must be people who prefer the small community to the city. Furthermore, they must be sufficiently familiar with the life of the small community to correlate the work of the school with the out-of- school experience of the children. And, while their first great concern is to teach a good school, they hav a work to do as members of the community. They must first establish themselvs as leaders of the edu- cational work of the community; but more than that, they should be leaders, or capable of developing leaders for the general community betterment. In order to do this they should know the peculiar char- acteristics of the small community as a community, its strength and its weakness, and what other small communities ar doing to make life in them more attractiv socially. BEST-TRAIND TEACHERS ATTRACTED TO CITIES It follows, then, that the normal schools and colleges of education should offer not only those courses that show how to teach school sub- jects with a small community "twist," but also those that deal with the general social problems of the whole community. When this is done, and when the small community reaches the point where it is willing to pay its teachers a salary commensurate with that which the city offers, its own young people wil not be attracted to the teaching posi- tions of the city. As a matter of fact, the per capita welth of the average small com- munity is greater than that of the city, and therefore the small com- munity can wel afford to secure the best-traind teachers, but it is not accustomd to taxing itself so generously for public welfare. If it should The Small Rural Community: Its Life and Education 17 do so and establish community schools, it could compete successfully with the city; for when it wil pay what it is easily able to pay it can secure teachers wel-prepared for work in the small community insted of those with no special preparation at all or those only partly traind for city schools. A teacher's worth and ability ar no longer mesurd by the size of the community in which he works. Many — one can say almost all — of the young people from the small community who graduate from the normal schools and teachers colleges ar drawn to the larger cities by the higher salaries; and once there, their social recognition is very limited and their social connections out- side of the classroom ar very few. THE TEACHER IN TILE SMALL COMMUNITY In the small community the teacher is recognized and welcomd to share community life. Here teachers may become constructiv factors outside the walls of the schoolroom, which brings a broader personal development and the satisfaction of knowing that they count for some- thing in the broader relations of life. Moreover, this broader association makes them more worth while as classroom teachers. They understand better what should be taught the children and how to teach it in a way to make the work of the school useful to the boys and girls in their broader community relations. It is sometimes charged that the teacher is narrow. If this charge be true it is due to the fact that he is too closely confined in his interests and connections in the schoolroom, and is not a participator in the general life of the community. THE FUTURE OF THE SMALL RURAL COMMUNITY It is believd that the small rural community, because of its ad- vantage in size of group and because of its location and manner of gain- ing a living, may organize upon a community basis more effectivly than a city. It is believd that at the present time our most stable population livs in the rural community. It as believd that here the most normal life may be livd, and that if the institutions of the community ar prop- erly organized it offers social attractivness of the very highest order. It is believd that the time is near when the highest type of social ad- vancement wil be found in the quiet, rational life of the small rural community, "renewd, quickend, proud of its advancement, and offering those satisfactions which answer to the most fundamental cravings of human nature." 18 The Normal School Quarterly Fi's.\ f X ■ £3 X & X ■ o X b & X m ® 6^/ /7/// K £?/7eS ■ Country -3 fores O ^9o c /b r ^ Offtc e The Small Rural Community: Its Life and Education 19 A PIONEER TYPE OF RURAL COMMUNITY (Saline County) Figure 1 represents a belated community of the pioneer type in one of the oldest counties in Illinois. Note that there is no railroad and no centering of interests around any one core. The trading interests ar divided among three widely separated country stores. The grist mill stil servs the people, but has a separate location and the churches ar weak and scatterd. The only educational facilities ar the one-room country schools of the backward type. Few children complete the eighth year of the common school, and no high school is available without leaving the community. The roads are poor and there ar practically no recreational facilities. Collectiv action would be difficult, yet it is the only way the boys and girls in this region may be given an even chance in life. 20 The Normal School Quarterly Fi<\.fL O Vil/ao e gr-o dec/ sc/700/ €>Ces) ■fro/iz ed h/yh sc/70 0/ fJPOge/? coon fry co/?so//& ' ofed graded ond htgh Schoo/s & Ch urches ^ — > — Approximate "frodP boundory . —- Cons of/do red sc/700/ dou n do ry ^Grange ho// ond -fni*~ g roc nd$ The Small Rural Community: Its Life and Education 21 A PARTIALLY CENTRALIZED COMMUNITY (Putnam County) Figure 2 represents a community of wide-awake people but divided into small groups. Note that while the area of the community is small, including a township, yet it has three villages. Note the division of church interests. Villages 1 and 2 hav so-cald community high schools surrounded by one-room country schools. Three one-room schools in the center of the township hav consolidated and support another little high school, making the third in 'the township. The combined enrol- ment of the three would make a high school of from 60 to 100 pupils, but separated, teaching cannot be much -specialized and teachers ar usually inexperienst and remain only long enough to get the experience sufficient to qualify for a larger and more specialized school. -The three divisions of this township ar really three neighborhoods, and they are all progressiv, but each is trying to do what a community can do better and with less effort and expense. 22 The Normal School Quarterly F >5- 3 x One-room school. 6 Community hioh school. OViUaqe graded school. ^Communrby hiqh school boundary. -" Trade boundary. ^Recreational boundary. The Small Rural Community: Its Life and Education 23 A GEOGRAPHICALLY COMPACT TYPE OF COMMUNITY (Moultrie County) Figure 3 represents a community favorably situated for collectiv effort altho it has only to a limited extent attempted .to realize its possibilities. Note that it has only one village, that its trade area and recreational area coincide; and that its religious interests center in the same village with the exception of small notches on the extreme west and north. It has centralized its educational efforts in a community high school with district lines almost identical with its trade boundary, but its educational organization for children below the high school is stil decentralized. Five churches center in the village, more than the community can wel support, yet, this community has great possibilities. 24 The Normal School Quarterly r«j. A- £3 Ch urch EI CenfraJjz.ee/ graded and high schoo/ School boundary — A/oprox/mafe trade boundary — -Approxz/nafe recrcalionol boundary The Small Rural Community: Its Life and Education 25 A WELL-DEVELOPT COMMUNITY (Woodford County) Figure .4 represents a well advanst type of community. It will be noted that marketing interests, recreational interests, religions life, and educational facilities ar centerd in one place and include nearly the same areas. The only exceptions to complete solidarity ar the church on the western outskirts, and those people who ar within the recreational and trading community but not included in the school community. Com- munity spirit is strong and, if organized and functioning thru a com- munity council with a program for the future years, would result in a very attractiv and wholesome community. 26 The Normal School Quarterly _£>&_5l . 13 Centra //zee/ co mm unity graded " ond h '$ h School Community hou ss O Com munc/y church *• 7?ode t Vter cat tonal f trelio-/ous f and educotiono I houn'c/of/es coincide />rocf/ca//y throughout The Small Rural Community: Its Life and Education 27 A FULLY ORGANIZED RURAL COMMUNITY (Fig. 5) A RURAL COMMUNITY CENTER (Fig. 6) Figure 5 represents a community not only wel centralized around a central core, but one highly organized for collectiv effort. The trade, religious, recreational, and educational boundaries practically coincide. Religious interests ar centerd in one community church, and educational interests ar centerd in one community graded and high school. The schools employ the principal, the teachers of agriculture, home economics, manual training, physical training, one of the English teachers, and the music teacher for twelv months in the year. During the summer their time is employ d in assisting the boys and girls with home projects and in helping out with community activities. The teacher of agriculture acts as agricultural adviser for the district under the direction of the county adviser, and during the winter offers a short course and holds conferences with men out of school. The household science teacher also does extension work. The manual training teacher helps in plans for bildings in the community and as far as possible uses these bilding problems as projects for the high-school boys. The school has a six-acre tract which is laid off in half-acre plots for demon- stration in the use of fertilizers, crop rotation, tillage, etc., following the suggestions of the state college of agriculture. These plots ar separated by drives and ar explaind by large signboards which may be red from the roadways. The physical-training teacher, in addition to his regular school physical training and athletic work, directs the playgrounds and outdoor sports of the community during the summer. This community is favored with a Community Building and this, supplemented by the school bilding, makes possible numerous com- munity activities. Community House has a library and reading room, a game room, a small auditorium and memorial hall — also used for committees, conferences, meetings for the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Pig Clubs, and other adult and juvenil organizations. It also has three bowling alleys, and a swimming pool. The school auditorium is used for larger gatherings and the school gymnasium is open for community use. The community functions thru a Community Council composed of representativs of the various organizations of the district. The school principal is secretary of the Council. A community fair is held every 28 The Normal School Quarterly fall. A summer chautauqua of five days and a lecture course ar sup- ported. There is no commercialized theatre, but the entertainment committee of the Council supervises motion pictures two nights a week, and home talent plays ar given. One of the English teachers has been employd with the view to having her help in staging community plays. She is employd by the year. A pageant is put on every spring and a Harvest Home Festival is given in the fall. The school director of music, in addition to directing the music work in the schools with its choruses, orchestra, and band, directs the community band and com- munity singing which is a feature of many of the community gatherings. A light opera is given by the school and community every winter and a concert is made a feature of the May pageant day. One of the social features of the community is the monthly com- munity dinner servd in the school gymnasium at six o'clock followed by a community sing, games, and dancing in which old and young hav a part. The community is fortunate in sharing with the county in the benefits of a county agricultural adviser, a county nurse, a county Y. M. C A. secretary, and a county Y. W. C A. secretary. Activities such as these are impossible with a small neighborhood group and show the rich possibilities of rural community life if all the elements of the community combine for collectiv effort in realizing these possibilities. Fig. 6 -/oyground and 'thief, c f'eld Trove for Surnnn jothermcjj / Picnic 'hotit ouo cio s etc r "\ Ajncutt demonsfr at, On gro u nds \M itching S/>eds\ Automobile parking space Bowling Alle ys Srnall acidiene? room end Memonat fall n ' Ty tious e C orn m u n ity Set) 00/ Building Science -„%- \ Put, he til ah way A RURAL COMMUNITY CENTER The Rural Education Department 29 Part II THE RURAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF THE ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY PURPOSE The purpose of this Department is to prepare teachers for schools in rural communities. It is three-fold in its aims : First. — To giv teachers a knowledg of the character and assets of the rural community and how to assist in using them, not only for more efficient schools but also for making rural life socially more attractiv. It is important first of all that they be able to teach a good school, but it is not enuf that they know how to do the work of the classroom. The rural teacher must be an activ citizen of the rural community, redy and capable of acting as leader, if necessary, in developing the leaders in the community. Second. — To giv teachers an understanding of school subjects so re-organized as to fit the first-hand experiences of the children of the open country and rural village. Third. — To train teachers in the art of teaching by utilizing the home surroundings of the pupils as a basis for teaching. The homes of the children, their gardens, their orchards, their live-stock, their poultry, their farms, their house-keeping; their canning, cooking, and sewing activities ; the creeks, hills, trees, prairies, and roads of the community, the tools, household appliances of the home, the sidewalks, bilding pro- jects, etc., ar the laboratory materials supplied by the community which may be utilized by the school in the educativ process. Teachers must know what is termd the "project method." WHAT TYPE OF STUDENT SHOULD TAKE WORK IN THIS DEPARTMENT All teachers or prospectiv teachers who ar "rural minded" should take work in this Department. It is difficult to point out the difference between "rural minded" and "city minded," but there is a difference. The "rural mind" finds more satisfaction in producing raw materials, the "city mind" in trading or fabricating them. The "rural mind" likes the soil, likes to make plants and animals grow, and, in the every day 30 The Normal School Quarterly round of life, derives more satisfaction from being in sight of the open country of fields and hills and trees, and birds and plants than from the clang of traffic on city pavements, and the sight of the city sky scrapers. The "rural mind" prefers the natural to the fabricated. The environment of childhood in the rural community, open country or rural village, tends to produce the "rural mind," hence prospectiv teachers from open country or country town ar more likely to find work in this department which satisfies their inclination. However, there ar people who hav grown up in cities who hav "rural minds" and hence should take this work. There ar those from the rural community who ar "city minded," hence would not ( find the problems considerd in this department suited to them. THE OPPORTUNITY FOR ADVANCEMENT FOR THOSE WHO TAKE WORK IN THIS DEPARTMENT The opportunity for advancement for those who take special train- ing in this field was never so great as it is today, and the next fifteen years wil see the field widening. Those who think graduates of this department ar prepared only for one-room country schools or at best for village schools fail to judge correctly. The rural community field is one of the most promising fields for those who hav had special training in rural community problems. In the field of teaching there is the "one-room" country school. While this type of school is a heritage of the age of neighborhood effort rather than community effort to supply educational advantages, it wil linger for some time yet in neighborhoods which from geografical iso- lation ar compeld to continue it, and in other neighborhoods which fail to see the advantage of community effort over neighborhood effort in education. Thru the activity of the State Department of Education of Illinois and with the co-operation of school offisers and people of open country neighborhoods, we hav over 3,000 one-room country schools which hav developt school plants and methods of instruction to a point above the average one-room school. These ar called "Standard Schools." To secure this distinction they hav raised the standard of their school premises, bilding, and equipment to a high degree of excellence. But more important yet, they must maintain a high standard of school- room instruction, such as can be conducted by a teacher of commanding personality, and who has the equivalent of a high-school course and special training in country school needs and management. The Rural Education Department 31 The State Department has gone a step farther. Thru the co-oper- ation of progressiv school offisers who wer satisfied with nothing short of the best that a one-room school can offer, over £0 districts hav gaind the unusual distinction of being classed as "Superior Schools." These schools hav yet more equipment and a v better school ;plant than the "Standard Schools." As might be expected they require "superior" teachers who hav a normal-school diploma or its equivalent and who ar wide awake to the latest and best in one-room school methods and man- agement and the needs of the open country neighborhood such as can be secured in special rural education courses. For teachers who hav the requisit leadership and special training, boards of directors ar able and willing to pay more, comparativly, than the salary receivd by teachers in the average one-room country school, and in most instances a salary in advance of that paid in neighboring city systems. There is also the "one-teacher" school which wil persist. This is a comparativly new type. While it is stil a "neighborhood" school, it is a step in advance of the "one-room" school. Texas leads in this type with 150 schools, while the State of Washington is a close second. These one-teacher schools hav a more extensiv school plant, consisting of the schoolhouse bilt to accommodate a neighborhood library, provisions for manual training and domestic science, a neighborhood assembly room, a plot for a school garden and for agricultural demonstration, a cottage for the teacher and his family, with garden, fruit trees, space for poultry, and sometimes enuf for a cow, a horse, and other live- stock. The teacher often remains for years, growing in value to the neighborhood because he is able to carry out a continued educational policy as he knows better the needs of the neighborhood. THE RURAL- VILLAGE OR COUNTRY-TOWN SCHOOL The separate school for the rural village wil remain for a time until the village and surrounding open country learn the value of col- lectiv effort in combining their forces for education. But rural village boys and girls, like those of the open country, should hav a rural type of school distinct from the city type. They ar familiar with rural activities, and usually participate in them. These boys and girls should hav their own garden, poultry, and other projects, and the same oppor- tunity to get the benefit of the close-to-the-soil experiences of the open country. They ar essentially rural in their outlook and should hav teachers with special training for rural living. It is unfortunate that 32 The Normal School Quarterly the village boy and girl hav too often had their school life modeld after that of the city. In Illinois there ar alredy about 125 rural districts which hav "standardized" their schools with a view to meeting the needs of rural village children. These schools ar seeking teachers with special training for this work and ar willing to pay accordingly. In fact the demand of the "standard" and "superior" one-room, and the "standard" rural village schools of Illinois alone is greater than the supply, which results in attractiv offers for those teachers who hav the personal qualities and peculiar training requisit to fil these positions. These schools would giv positions to more normal school graduates next year than ar found in the entire membership of the graduating classes of 1920 in all five of the Illinois Normal Schools. THE CONSOLIDATED AND CENTRALIZED SCHOOLS It is graitfying that rural communities ar seeing the value of com- bining their forces for more efficient educational facilities by centraliz- ing the schools of the entire community. Consolidated, or — more prop- erly cald — community schools ar increasing at a rapid rate. In 1916 there were 5,602 of these centralized schools in the United States. Of these, 2,668 or about 47 V2 per cent wer establisht during the three years previous. It is estimated that there ar at least 10,500 centralized schools now in operation. From this it wil be seen that there is a rapidly increasing demand for a new type of teacher and a new type of adminis- tration for these schools. Many of these schools had expected to carry out a special program to meet the needs of their community, but because of a lack of teachers properly trained for re-directed rural community school work they hav been compeld to accept "city minded" teachers traind for city schools. Insted of having rural schools they hav a poor imitation of a city school. This results in the centralized school losing the primary objectiv for which it was organized. RURAL COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOLS Again, rural communities ar realizing that they can furnish better high school facilities by centralizing for high-school purposes. In fact, in Illinois, community effort toward centralization was first attempted for this purpose, and it was later realized that the great majority of children who do not go to high school, had been .denied the advantages of co-operativ effort for better education. It was first realized that rural boys and girls hav a right to the advantages of a strong four-year high school before it was rememberd that also the boys and girls in the lower Agricultural Nature Study Class Children in School Garden ■r'-#.-*r-twmi The Rural Education Department 33 grades of rural communities hav a right to just as efficient educational advantages as the city boys and girls. But the centralized community high school is with us and is show- ing the way to a better future for the elementary grade pupils as wel as those of high-school grade. Our own state illustrates the rapid growth of the community idea applied to the solution of the rural school prob- lem. In 1906, there wer 38 township high schools in Illinois. In 1916, there wer 242 township and community high schools. Since July 1, 1919, 170 community high schools hav been establisht. Only ^a small percentage of these ar in city communities. The vast majority ar rural. It is evident, then, that they should hav a type of education based upon rural experiences and for rural living. Here again is a demand for teachers traind especially for rural life. Here again schools hav been compeld to take teachers traind for city high schools and who know little of re-directed rural school ideals. Here again we hav curriculums with content and method similar to those of the city high school and to that extent the rural community high schools ar failing to train boys and girls in the knowledge of rural community possibilities. Eural communities ar becoming conscious of the fact that they need a type of training with a content in many respects different from that of the city high « school. They ar demanding a specially traind teacher, a teacher who knows the problems of the rural community and has a vision of the future rural community. They ar demanding teach- ers of agriculture who find their projects in the poultry yard, in the orchards, and garden and "truck patch," and on the farm — real prob- lems growing out of life situations. They ar demanding that our teach- ers of biology, chemistry, physics, and all natural science select their material from the same source. They ar demanding manual training teachers who help the boys bild chicken coops, rabbit hutches, pig pens, gates, fences, repair harness, make concrete posts, blocks and walks, lay out tile ditches, etc. Mechanical drawing should hav a. different content, and they ar demanding that both agriculture and manual training teachers be practical men in servis the whole year. They ar demanding a modification of the teaching of mathematics and science, and that their students be traind in a knowledg of economics and soci- ology as it applies to the problems of the rural community. Even English and f oren language may need some re-direction. PRINCIPALS OF COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOLS These rural community high schools ar recruiting ,their teachers from the ranks of those who know the problem of the rural community as they hav been traind to know them in the classes in rural sociology, 34 The Normal School Quarterly rural economics, rural nature study, rural physics, chemistry, and biology, rural hygiene and sanitation, rural manual training, rural home economics, rural ; school organization and administration offerd in a special department for that purpose. The principals of these high schools should be teachers who hav had this special training and hav shown themselvs to hav the vision of the re-directed rural school. TOWNSHIP SUPERVISOR Another opening for promotion for rural-traind men and women is the position of township supervisor or superintendent. Many localities ar realizing that the county superintendent cannot giv close supervision of the schools of an entire county, consequently they demand a super- visor to serv a smaller number of schools. In counties under township or county-township organization this smaller unit is usually a township. The work of these township supervisors demands that they hav a train- ing fitting for rural-education supervision, such training as is offerd in normal-school departments of rural education. COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS In practically every state in the union the schools of a county ar under the direction of a county superintendent of schools. Since the cities within his county usually hav their own superintendents, the work of the county superintendent is largely with the schools of the village and open country; that is, he servs rural communities. In order to do this he must be "rural minded;" he must know the life and educational needs of the rural district, and he must be community, minded. As the idea of making the type of school fit the needs of the community grows, people ar demanding ( more and more that their county superintendents be men adapted to their type of community, by viewpoint and training. They ar not content to take anyone because he is simply a normal or university graduate. They ar asking if he took special courses as a student to fit him for rural community work. These positions offer a splendid opportunity for the young man or woman who has prepared for them. HIGH SCHOOL NORMAL TRAINING DEPARTMENTS Again, a number of states ar developing normal-training depart- ments in their high schools for the purpose of training teachers. Most of the graduates of these schools work in rural communities; hence the demand for successful and specially traind rural teachers to take charge of these departments in high schools, and another chance for promotion for the teacher who has prepared himself for the work. The Rural Education Department 35 TEACHERS AND DIRECTORS OF RURAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENTS OF STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS State normal schools ar establishing rural education departments. In these departments ar required a hed and often several assistants. These positions ar fild, not from the ranks of the "city minded" or from the ranks of teachers traind for work in city systems. They ar fild by "rural minded" and rural education experts who must know the prob- lems of the rural community. This movement opens positions for those who ar qualified to teach in a practical and concrete way rural school subjects and rural school administration; for teachers who know rural economics, rural community civics, rural hygiene and sanitation, and the rural viewpoint in common and high-school subjects. RURAL EDUCATION EXPERTS IN STATE UNIVERSITIES Then again, as the rural-community high schools ar demanding that their teachers and principals hav rural-community training, schools of education in our. state universities ar needing professors who can offer rural-community courses, and these instructors to qualify must be pre- pared by special training and experience for this work. These positions will be fild by rural teachers and administrators who know the rural community and who hav a vision of the possibilities of the rural school and who ar capable of giving this vision to the young men and women who come to it for instruction and inspiration. STATE AND FEDERAL SERVIS Last of all, leaders ar being sought in increasing numbers by state departments of education and by the Federal Government for its en- larging educational activities. For the specially traind rural teacher there is no lack of opportunity for advancement. Young men and women who expect to teach need no longer think that teaching in the rural community is a disagreeable novitiate to be endured for a short time before entering upon a real teaching career in some city school. The way is open to remain in rural education work. The field is large. It is only now being developt. Those who properly prepare themselvs for it wil find plenty of problems and opportunities for advancement which wil call out their abilities to the limit. It is a matter of being prepared when the opportunity comes. OPENINGS IN OTHER RURAL WORK There ar other openings possible for those who take work in this department. The teacher who has had training in a rural education 36 The Normal School Quarterly department and who finds it necessary to change his occupation wil discover that he is wel prepared for other lines of work closely related to teaching. County farm advisors, .directors of junior farm and home bureaus, leaders of junior farm extension servis, county directors of Y. W. C. A. and Y. M. C. A. work, and county librarians ar largely recruited from the ranks of teachers who know the country and the rural village. The editor of the country newspaper has a wide field of usefulness in the rural community, provided he has had training in rural community problems. These and other vocations of an educational nature demand a knowledg of agriculture, rural economics, rural soci- ology, and of the community resources of the rural districts. OTHER ACTIVITIES Then, rural-traind teachers who eventually become country bankers, business men, or farmers, or housewives in rural communities, find they ar better prepared for their work vocationally and as members of their community by having the training the rural education department givs, and by their experience as teachers. Thus it wil be seen that even if one should not continue in teaching for a lifetime, the training given in this department functions to make a more efficient citizen of a rural community. It is evident that the teacher in the rural community has an oppor- tunity for usefulness seldom equald, and at the same time an opportunity for personal advancement in the profession of teaching surpast in no other field. It is evident that for this work he must hav a training in some respects distinct from that of the teacher who would enter servis in the city schools. Since the rural community is beginning to demand specially prepared teachers for this work and ar now offering wages equal to and even better than those paid by cities (comparativ cost of living considerd), it has a right to demand that teachers make a com- parable advance in preparation for this, work and that this preparation be of a character adapted to the needs of rural community life. ADVANTAGES OFFERED BY THE ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY To meet this demand which is now felt and which wil rapidly in- creas in the next few years, the Illinois State Normal University offers curriculums and has equipment to train teachers looking forward to educational work in rural communities. The four-year curriculum is designd (1) for those who wish to pre- pare for teaching in rural community high schools in the departments of English, Mathematics, Natural Science, History and Social Science, Foren Language, Agriculture, Home Economics, or Manual Training; The Rural Education Department 37 (2) for those who would become principals of rural village, country town, or community high schools; (3) those who wish to become town- ship supervisors, county superintendents, or to engage in higher educa- tional work in rural education. One two-year curriculum is open to graduates of four-year high schools who would prepare for teaching in superior or standard one- room schools, ,in the grades of village or country town, or to become village or community school principals, township supervisors, county superintendents, and to be teachers in community high schools which employ two-year graduates. A two-year curriculum is open to graduates of the eighth grade and who wish to secure a provisional certificate for teaching in a one- room country school. Other curriculums ar offerd to graduates of two or three-year high schools and to those who hav had a partial high-school course whereby they may secure the regular normal school diploma; and they may con- tinue and complete the four-year curriculum and receiv a degree. With the wide variety of courses offerd in the summer quarter it is possible to do a considerable amount of work during the summer and still teach during the school year. Graduates of a four-year high school may attend three summers quarters and one year and secure a diploma, and thus lose only one year from teaching. THE FOUR- YEAR CURRICULUM This curriculum leads (1) to the degree of Bachelor of Education; (2) to a County High School Certificate good for three years and renewable indefinitly. The certificate may be obtaind after completing three or more years of work, provided the courses be chosen in accord- ance with the requirements of the Examining Board. This curriculum is open only to graduates of an accredited four-year high-school. The courses offerd are groupt as follows : Group I. — General Professional Courses Elementary Psychology 12 weeks Educational Psychology and Ethics or School Administration or History of Education 36 weeks Teaching Process 12 weeks General Method 12 weeks School Management 12 weeks Teaching 36 weeks Principles of Education 12 weeks Group II. — Rural Education Courses Social Problems of the Rural Community 12 weeks Rural Economics and Agricultural Economic History 12 weeks Rural Education 12 weeks High School Problems of the Rural Community 12 weeks Rural School Administration and Management 12 weeks Rural School Curriculum 12 weeks 38 The Normal School Quarterly Group III. — Academic Courses English — Grammar 12 weeks Science of Discourse ; 12 weeks Reading 12 weeks Public Speaking 12 weeks Literature 24 weeks History and Social Science — Modern European History 12 weeks United States History 24 weeks Economics 12 weeks Sociology 12 weeks American Government 12 weeks Science or Mathematics 36 weeks Physiology 12 weeks Group IV. — Electiv Courses Enough additional academic courses to make a major (3 years' work) in at least one of the following departments: Mathematics, Natural Science, History, Foreign Language, Agriculture, Home Economics, Manual Training, English. Students are advised to take two majors selected by pairs as is often required of teachers in smaller high schools. English and History, Science and Mathematics, Science and Manual Training, Science and Agriculture, Agriculture and Manual Training, and other combinations ar common. The advice of the President or the Dean should be sought by the students in arranging his majors. Fall Term Elementary Psychology Science or Mathematics Modern European His- tory Grammar 31 (Women) Physiology 31 (Men) First Year Winter Term Teaching Process Science or Mathematics United States History Grammar 31 (Men) Physiology 31 (Women) Second Year Spring Term General Method Science or Mathematics United States History Literature Fall Term School Management Literature Civics 21 Electiv Winter Term Principles of Education Public Speaking Economics 31 Electiv Spring Term Science of Discourse Reading Sociology 43 Electiv Fall Term Educational Psychology or School Adminis- tration or History of Education Electiv Electiv Electiv Third Year Winter Term Educational Psychology or School Adminis- tration or History of Education Rural Economics and History Electiv Electiv Spring Term Ethics or School Ad- ministration or His- tory of Education Rural Sociology Electiv Electiv The Rural Education Department 39 Fourth Year Fall Term Winter Term Spring Term Rural Education Rural Community High Rural School Manage- Teaching School Problems ment and Curriculum Electiv Teaching Teaching Electiv Electiv Electiv Electiv Electiv TWO-YEAR CURRICULUM (m) This curriculum covers two years' work and is open only to gradu- ates of accredited four-year liigh schools. Graduates from this curri- culum ar entitled to receiv (1) a Normal- School Diploma, and (2) a First Grade Elementary Certificate good for three years and renewable indefinitly. This certificate is good for teaching in a four-year high school if endorst by the county superintendent. Students who hav completed the first year of this curriculum may receiv the second-grade certificate at the option of the county superintendent. Courses are groupt as follows : Group I. — General Professional Courses Teacher and the School 12 weeks Elementary Psychology 12 weeks General Method 12 weeks Teaching 12 weeks Group II. — Rural Education Courses Rural School Curriculum 12 weeks Rural School Management 12 weeks Rural Economic and Social Problems 12 weeks Group III. — Academic Courses Arithmetic 12 weeks Arithmetic or Economics 12 weeks Grammar 12 weeks Geografy 12 weeks United States History 12 weeks Hygien and Sanitation 12 weeks Everyday Physical Science 12 weeks Agricultural Nature Study 24 weeks Domestic Science or Agriculture 12 weeks Domestic Art or Manual Training 12 weeks Group IV. — Minor Courses* Primary Handwork 12 weeks Gymnastics 36 weeks Music 12 weeks Drawing 12 weeks Phonics 6 weeks Reading Method 6 weeks Reading 6 weeks Children's Literature 6 weeks * A minor course is a subject pursued for 6 weeks, or for twelv weeks with no outside preparation. 40 The Normal School Quarterly Fall Term Teacher and School Arithmetic 31 Nature Study Primary Handwork Gymnastics First Year Winter Term Psychology 33 Grammar 31 Domestic Science or Agriculture Drawing Gymnastics Spring Term General Method Nature Study Domestic Art or Man- ual Training Music Gymnastics Fall Term Science of Discourse. Arithmetic 32 or Econ- omics Geografy 32 Teaching Second Year Winter Term Rural Hygiene Physical Science Phonics and Reading Rural School Manage- ment Spring Term Rural School Curricu- lum and Observation United States History Rural Social Problems Reading and Literature PEO VISIONAL-CERTIFICATE CURRICULUM (n) Because some districts are not financially able or do not hav the inclination to pay salaries sufficient to justify teachers of these schools in spending four years in high-school before taking a normal-school course, another two-year curriculum is provided. Its completion counts two years towards the regular normal-school diploma. Students wh complete this curriculum ar recommended for provisional teachers' cer- tificates under the certificating law. Fall Term Nature Study 11 Mensuration 22 Composition 11 Orthografy and Phonics Physical Training Fall Term Geografy 12 Civics 11 United States History 21 Reading 11 First Year Winter Term Percentage and Book- keeping Drawing or Music Physical Training Domestic Science or Manual Training Second Year Winter Term Country School Organ- ization Physiology United States History 22 Manual Training or Agriculture TRANSFER OF CREDITS Spring Term Nature Study 12 Geografy 11 Country School Teach- ing Primary Handwork Music or Drawing Physical Training Spring Term Country School Prob- lems Grammar 21 Arithmetic 21 Reading Method and Children's Literature Students who hav done one or more terms' work in Curriculum M may transfer credits to the four-year curriculum without loss of time or credit. The Rural Education Department 41 Students who hav done one or more terms' work in Curriculum N may continue work and transfer credits without loss to a course which leads to a Normal-School Diploma and a First-Grade County Certificate. DESCRIPTION OF SPECIAL COURSES LEADING TO THE NORMAL-SCHOOL DIPLOMA Course 21: Kural School Curriculum. — This course deals with methods of teaching the common school branches. A week, more or less, is devoted to methods of teaching spelling, language, arithmetic, and the other common-school branches. Emfasis is laid upon giving motiv to the work, methods of presentation and content of subject- matter. A part of the time is devoted to observation of work in the Training School. Texts : Charter's Teaching The Common Branches; The State Course of Study. Spring and first summer terms. Course 22: Rural School Management. — This course deals with problems of the school grounds, ventilation, heating, lighting, care of equipment, the business side of school management, the making of recitation and study programs, preparations for the first day, organiza- tion of school clubs, supervision of play and playgrounds, and mechan- ized routine. Text: Cutler & Stone's The Rural School: Its Methods and Management. Winter and first summer terms. Course 23 : The Rural School And The Community. — This course deals with the school district, and the community of which the district is a part. Problems of helth, sanitation, recreation, sociability, the church, shifting of population, roads, why young people leave the small community, organizations for promoting sociability, Farm Bureaus, Home Bureaus, Community Councils, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, effect of means of communication, such as the automobile and rural free delivery, the village and its relation to the country neighborhood, the consolidated school, and the community high school, ar studied with a view to giving the student a broader outlook of the life and problems of the community and how they affect the school and the life of the people. Texts : Cubberly's Rural Life and Education; collateral read- ing. Spring and first summer terms. Course 31 A: The Teacher and The School. — This course deals with factors which help to equip the teacher for his work, the teacher as an organizer, the technique of the recitation and the teacher as a trainer. Text: Colgrove's The Teacher and The School. Fall and first sum- mer terms. 42 The Normal School Quarterly DESCRIPTION OP SPECIAL ADVANST COURSES LEADING TO DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF EDUCATION Those who look forward to specializing in more advanst work in the field of rural education may take a four-year curriculum leading to a degree in which ar included more advanst courses in the education and social problems of the small agricultural community. This is especially recommended for those who expect to teach in the stronger four-year community high schools or who desire to take up supervisory work in the rural field. Course 32 : Social Problems of the Small Community. — This course deals with the village and country town in relation to the open country, growth, and decline, socialization of the village, helth and sanitation, village political life, the village in history, village morality, the relation of the open country to the village or country town, the land question, means of communication, movements of population, helth in the open country, farmers' economic and social organizations, and the church. Emfasis is placed upon the methods by which the entire population of the rural community consisting of both village and open country, thru co-operation and community action, may secure better schools, better churches, better helth, and make life in the small community yield those satisfactions which normal human nature seeks when at its best. Text: Vogt's Introduction to Rural Sociology; Collateral reading. Spring and first summer terms. Course 33: Rural Economics and History of American Agricul- ture. — General principles of rural economics, agricultural production, management, distribution of income, economic organizations, the land problem, historical development of agriculture. Texts : Carver's Rural Economics; Schmidt's Economic History of Agriculture. Winter term. Course 38A : Community High School Problems. — Historical study of the township and community high-school movement; legal status; influence in community life, physical welfare, economic welfare, voca- tional welfare, leisure welfare, political welfare; factors which should determin the courses offerd in its curriculums; how re-direct the con- tent of the social studies, natural science, and the other subjects to fit the needs of the community; how to utilize the activities of the home and the community as a laboratory and basis for the work of the school; "home projects;" administration and management; the school plant; the teacher; the principal; the social needs of the young people. Text: A syllabus is followd with topical readings, assignd reports, and classroom discussion. Winter term. The Rural Education Department 43 Course 46A : Rural Education. — A study of the types, history, arid organization of rural schools of the United States: the one-room school, the one-teacher school, the centralized school, and the community and township high school; units of organization for school purposes as the district, community, township, and county; state and federal aid; relation of state and federal departments of education to the local schools, departments for training rural teachers in normal schools and state universities; workers and organizations co-operating with rural schools such as Junior Farm Bureaus, county librarians, county Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Association Secretaries, county agricultural agents and home advisers. Texts: Cubberly's Education in the United States; Foght's The Rural Teacher and His Work. Fall term. KHBTORICALS Every student in the institution is assignd to a rhetorical section which meets every Tuesday under the direction of a member of the faculty. One section is open to those who ar interested in the problems of the rural community. Students prepare talks and make reports upon topics in some field of rural life. The general topic for the fall quarter of 1919 was, "The Rural Community." First a study was made of the relationship between the open country and the resulting rural village or country town in order to get a proper concept of a rural community. This was followd by a study by the student of his own home community, the results of which he reported to the Section, using charts where necessary to make his meaning clear. In this study the following outline was used : My Community 1. Character of population? a. If nativ Americans, what stock? b. If foren born, what nationality? c. What races other than white ? d. What percentage ar from old families of the neighborhoods? e. What percentages from families moving in within the last ten years ? f. What percentage own farms they liv on or homes in the vil- lage? g. What percentage ar tenants? 2. Is the population increasing or decreasing? Why? 44 The Normal School Quarterly 3. Boads a. Extent of paved roads? b. Character of dirt roads, clay, sandy, black dirt? c. Ar roads graded and regularly dragged? d. To what extent hav they been oiled? Kesult? e. During how great a part of the year ar they passable for auto- mobile ? 4. Is the community servd by rural mail routes? 5. What percentage of the homes hav telefones? Is it a mutual or a commercial line? 6. How wide is the range of travel? a. By automobile? b. By trolley ? c. By steam cars? 7. Is there an agricultural adviser for this community? If so, how is he regarded by the people? 8. What percentage of families hav automobiles? 9. What co-opera tiv commercial organizations, such as farmers' ele- vator, creamery, etc.? 10. Number of churches? a. Denominations ? b. Where ar churches located, village or country? c. What young people's societies? 11. Ar any of the following organizations found? a. Young Men's Christian Association. b. Young Women's Christian Association. c. Boy Scouts. d. Camp Fire Girls. e. Junior Farm Bureau. 12. What clubs or fraternal organizations ar activ? What interest do they take in community affairs? 13. Does the community hav a farmers' institute? Community Club? Community Council? What interest is shown? 14. Is there a grange? If so, how activ? Farm Bureau? Home Bureau ? .15. Does the community support a lecture and entertainment course? Nature of the course? Does it hav a chautauqua of its own? How many days in length? Is there a chautauqua in any neighboring community patronized to any considerable extent by members of this community? The Rural Education Department 45 16. What forms of commercialized social gatherings ar found, such as motion pictures, skating rinks, pool rooms, dance halls, etc.? 17. What ar the recreations and amusements for the older people? 18. What recreations and amusements for the younger people? 19. What provisions ar made for books, magazines, and reading matter outside the homes? 20. To what extent is reading matter provided in the homes? What books and papers ar common in the homes? 21. Community spirit a. To what extent democratic? What cliques or exclusiv groups? b. To what extent ar there family, business, racial, religious, or other animosities which prevent co-operation? c. What has the community in the way of leaders? Character of these leaders; that is, ar they constructiv and progressiv? d. Extent to which the churches co-operate with each other? e. Attitude of churches toward community undertakings f . What is the feeling between the country and village population ? g. Is there a meeting place belonging to the whole community? If so, what is it and where? h. Ar there any community gatherings which include all mem- bers of the community, young and old, rich and poor? i. To what extent ar the school bil dings used for public meetings ? j. What is the attitude of the church members and the ministers toward the use of the churches for social purposes? k. How is a teacher regarded by the community? 1. To what extent hav the teachers participated in community gatherings and undertakings? 22. Attitude toward educational advantages for the young people as shown by — a. Character of school bildings and premises, equipment, etc. b. Encouragement children get to attend school regularly and promptly. c. Encouragement given children to finish the schools of the com- munity. d. Number who go on to normal schools, colleges, and univer- sities. e. Presence of parent-teachers' associations and character of ac- tivity shown thru these organizations. f. Training required of teachers. g. Teachers salaries. h. Whether "rural minded" teachers ar employd or "city minded." 46 The Normal School Quarterly 23. Character of school instruction a. Is the content of the subjects taught based upon the experi- ences of children of a rural community or is it copied from city plans ? b. Is it opening the eyes of the boys and girls to the world about them? c. Ar arithemetic and all school subjects taught in such a way that the boys and girls can apply the knowledg they get to everyday life situations? d. Ar Corn Clubs, Pig Clubs, Poultry Clubs, Garden Clubs, Can- ning Clubs, etc., related to school work? 24. High School advantages a. Kind of high school, village, township, or community? b. Do the subjects offerd pertain to life in a rural community or is the curriculum patternd after that of some city? c. Is any attempt made to familiarize the pupils with community problems ? d. What is the length of the curriculum? 25. Number of men in the community who contend that because they ar "taxpayers" their rights ar to be considerd before those of the children. 26. Proportion of the young men and women who leave the community when they take up their life work. 27. What is the feeling of the community with reference to itself? a. Self-respect: does it believ it can do things? or does it believ it is a weak community and can't help it? b. Is it self-satisfied? c. Is it conceited, believing that it is a progressiv community when in reality it is far behind? d. Has it accomplisht some one community project which pos- sibly attracted favorable attention but has advanst no farther — living upon its past record? e. Is it reasonably proud of its past record but primarily inter- ested in developing a bigger and better future? f. Has any movement been made to plan ahed for the community as a community? During the winter quarter the topic for discussion was "How to Organize and Conduct Clubs." The work included a study of Literary Societies, Poultry Clubs, Corn Clubs, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, Country Life Clubs, and Community Clubs. A part of each meeting The Rural Education Department 47 was devoted to a study of Bobert's Bules of Order and to parliamentary practis. The Khetorical work thus offers, incidentally, an opportunity for special investigation, and givs training and practis in organizing and conducting public meetings. THE COUNTRY LIFE CLUB With the revival of interest in the welfare of small communities, open country, and country town, and with the growing belief that the small community may so organize its resources as to yield some of the richest satisfactions of human life, the National Country Life Associa- tion came into existence. This is a national movement intended to organize and intensify the efforts looking toward enriching the every- day life of the fifty-five million people who do not liv in cities. Thru- out the states country life and community clubs ar looking toward the same end and a movement is now in progress to federate these different community organizations of the states. The Normal University has sought to familiarize the students, who are looking forward to rural work, with the great state and national movements by organizing a club cald the Country Life Club. This Club meets monthly for the purpose of discussing problems of rural life in a manner somewhat different from that possible in the classroom. It offers an opportunity for a student club composed of those from country towns, rural villages, and open country, who believ in the small com- munity and wish to understand how it may be organized best for community welfare. This club has the concept that country life means life in the agri- cultural sections of the state. The cities with over 2,500 population, the mining town, the factory town, the city suburb, and the educational center hav problems somewhat different from the country town and its surrounding open country. It is evident then that "country life" as understood by this club includes more than life in what we usually term the open country. It considers problems of rural community life, problems of a social unit and projects which may be carried on by a community. This club considers questions such as community councils, com- munity schools, community recreation, community sociability, com- munityhelth; agencies for promoting community action, such as the automobile, the telephone, hard roads, and kindred topics. The purpose of. the club is both educativ and recreational. Pro- grams ar given by the students and occasional talks ar made by factuly 48 The Normal School Quarterly members or visitors who ar experts along some line of rural community welfare. The constitution is printed herewith to giv an idea of its organi- zation and with the thought that it may be suggestiv to those contem- plating the organization of a club similar in purpose. Constitution PREAMBLE We, students of the Illinois State Normal University, believing that the rural community deservs the best in the way of economic, re- creational, educational, cultural, and religious life, and believing that it offers these satisfactions to the extent that its resources ar organized and utilized; and further believing that a better understanding of its needs and resources may be secured thru a study and discussion of these problems and of the means of bringing about their solution, do there- fore constitute ourselvs a Country Life Club. ARTICLE I Name. — The name of this club shal be the Country Life Club of the Illinois State Normal University. ARTICLE II Object. — The object of this club shal be the discussion of methods of advancing the economic, recreational, sociability, physical helth, edu- cational, cultural and religious interests of the rural community. ARTICLE III Membership. — Any student or member of the faculty of the Illinois State Normal University may become a member of this club by paying the term dues of ten cents and signing the constitution. Non-resident students may continue their membership with all its rights and privil- eges by continuing payment of dues. ARTICLE IV Offisers and Elections. — There shal be the following officers : Presi- dent, Vice-president, Secretary, and Treasurer. ARTICLE V Duties of Offisers.— The duties of the different officers shal be such as usually devolv upon the incumbents of the respectiv offises. The Rural Education Department 49 ARTICLE VI Duties of the Committees. — The Program Committee shal arrange all programs of the club and see that they ar announst and bulletind in good and sufficient time for publicity. Special committees wil carry out the instructions of the club in the performance of special duties assignd to them. ARTICLE VII Meetings. — The meetings of the club shal be on the third, seventh, and eleventh Tuesday evenings of each term between the hours of 6:30 and 7 :30 o'clock. ARTICLE VIII Dues. — The dues of the club shal be ten cents per term. ARTICLE IX Quorum. — Eight members in good standing shal be a quorum for the transaction of all business. ARTICLE X Amendments. — This constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the members at any regular meeting. ARTICLE XI Order of Business. — The order of business in all regular meetings shal be as follows : 1. Call to order 2. Beading of minutes of previous meeting 3. Eeport of Program Committee 4. Eeport of special committees 5. Unfinisht business 6. New business 7. Program 8. Discussion 9. Adjournment SOME TYPICAL PROGRAMS Program MY COMMUNITY Talk. — What Constitutes a Rural Community? Talk. — Community Distribution of the Population of Illinois. Talks. — "My Community," by four students. (Talks illustrated by charts.) 50 The Normal School Quarterly Program EDUCATION Talk. — The Superior One-room School of Illinois. Talk. — Disadvantages of the One-room School. Talk. — Advantages of Community Effort in Education. Talk. — Some Obstacles in the Way of Community Schools. Talk. — Some Successful Community Schools. Program COMMUNICATION Talk. — Disintegrating Effects of the Automobile. Talk. — Socializing Effects of the Automobile. Talk. — The Inter-urban and the Rural Community. Talk. — Problems of the Country Town near a City. PRACTIS TEACHING 1. Preparation for village, country town, or community high school. A mere theoretical knowledg of school organization, management, and the art of instruction, is not sufficient training for the actual work of teaching. No matter how wel one may be grounded in the theoretical aspects of any business, the art and technique of that business can be acquired only thru actual participation. The Thomas Metcalf Training School and the University High School offer opportunity to the student to acquire the technique of teaching and class-room management thru actual experience under the direction of a training teacher. Thru this experience the district which employs the young teacher for his first term is saved the loss which would otherwise result if he had all of 'his art to lern after he begins teaching. Accordingly two or three terms of practis teaching ar required of all graduates; or rather, the student is required to teach until he has acquired a degree of proficiency in the art of instruction, even though it may require more than three terms. 2. Participation in country schools. For students who expect to teach in one-room schools, a special arrangement is made to fit them for their work. For a student to be equipt to teach in the country it is quite essential that she hav some actual experience in country schools. To secure this, students who ar completing their studies in the two-year curriculums ar sent out the last three weeks of the winter term to separate country schools to par- ticipate in the work. ' , -' 'V 1 '-.'-- jSI; '■Mr*** ' ' « ^SIAA The Rural Education Department 51 Thru the county superintendents good schools ar chosen. Here the student is in close touch with the life of the school and the community. When practicable she livs at the same boarding house with the regular teacher. She observs, assists in the management and care of the school, helps with the seat work, and does part of the teaching. She is expected to hand in on her return to the Normal School a written report of her work and experience with a simple survey of the school including the condition of the bildings and yard, provision for the helth and comfort of the children, as found in the heating, ventilating, lighting, and water supply; equipment to aid in giving instruction; the method of the reci- tation, assignments, drils, reviews, and so forth. This plan of practis teaching has been in operation for three years. The students who hav gone out come back with a greater appreciation of what teaching in the country means, and later go to their own schools with more poise and confidence because of this experience. For further information with reference to the Eural Education Department address, David Felmley, President Illinois State Normal University; or H. A. Bone, Rural Education Department, 'Normal, Illinois. 3 0112 105727330