present plane of efficiency until these three conceptions, (1) that of
personality, (2) that of standard, and, (3) that of wages, are revised
in the public mind. There will have to be a great revolution in the
thought of the people in regard to these inseparable things.

=The Inseparables.=--The fact is that, (1) strong personalities, (2) a
high standard of qualifications, (3) and a respectable salary go hand in
hand. They rise and fall together; they are reactive, one upon the
other. The strong personality implies the ability to meet a high
standard and demands reasonable compensation. The same is true of the
high standard--it selects the strong personality and this in turn cannot
be secured except at a good salary. It may be maintained that if school
boards really face the question in earnest, and are willing to offer
good salaries, strong personalities who are able to meet that high
standard can always be secured. Professor Hugo Münsterberg says: "Our
present civilization shows that in every country really decisive
achievement is found only in those fields which draw the strongest
minds, and that they are drawn only where the greatest premiums are
tempting them."[2]

[Footnote 2: Psychology and Social Sanity, p. 82.]

=Raise the Standard First.=--The best way, then, to attack the problem
is, first, to raise the standard. This will eliminate inferior teachers
and retain or attract those of superior qualifications. It is to be
regretted that we have not, in the United States, a more uniform
standard for teaching in the common schools. Each state has its own
laws, its own standard. It would not, we think, be asking too much to
provide that no person should teach in any grade of school, rural or
elementary, in the United States, unless such person has had a course
for teachers equivalent to at least three years of work in the high
school or normal school, with pedagogical preparation and training. In
fact, a national law making such a uniform standard among the teachers
in the common schools of the country would be an advantage. But this is
probably more than we can expect in the near future. As it is, there
should be a conference of the educational authorities in each state to
agree upon a standard for teaching, with a view to uniform state
legislation.

=More Men.=--One of the great needs of the calling is more men. There
was a time when all teachers were men; now nearly all teachers are
women. There is as much reason for one condition as for the other.
Without going into an analysis of the situation or the causes which make
it desirable that there should be more men in the teaching profession,
it is, we think, generally granted that the conditions would be better,
educationally, socially, and every other way, if the number of men and
women in the work were about evenly divided.

=Coöperation Needed.=--Educational movements and influences have spread
downward and outward from above. The great universities of the world
were established before the secondary and elementary school systems came
into existence. Thought settles down from leaders who are in high
places. We have shown in a former chapter that the state universities,
the agricultural colleges, the normal schools, and the high schools have
had a wonderful development within the last generation, while the rural
school has too often lagged perceptibly behind. The country districts
have helped to support in every way the development of the higher
schools; now an excellent opportunity presents itself for all the higher
and secondary educational influences to unite in helping to advance the
interests and increase the efficiency of the rural schools.

=The Supply.=--The question is sometimes asked whether the right kind of
teachers can be secured, if higher salaries are offered. There can be
no doubt at all on this point. Where the demand exists and where there
is sufficient inducement offered, the supply is always forthcoming. Men
are always at hand to engage in the most menial and even the most
dangerous occupations if a sufficient reward, financial or otherwise, is
offered. For high wages men are induced to work in factories where
mercury must be handled and where it is well known that life is
shortened many years as a consequence. Men are secured to work long
hours in the presence of red-hot blast furnaces and in the lowest depths
of the holds of ships. Can it be possible that with a reasonable salary
the strongest kind of men would not be attracted to a calling that has
as many points of interest and as many attractions as teaching?

=Make It Fashionable.=--A great deal depends upon making any work or any
calling fashionable. All that is needed is for the tide to turn in that
direction. It is difficult to say how much salary will stop the outward
tide and cause it to set in the other direction; but one thing is
certain, we shall never completely solve the rural school problem until
the tide turns.

=The Retirement System.=--Strong personalities will, then, help to make
teaching attractive and fashionable, as well as effectual. There is a
movement now becoming quite extensive which will also add to the
attractiveness of the teacher's calling. A system or plan of insurance
and retirement is now being installed in many states for the benefit of
teachers who become incapacitated or who have taught a certain period of
time. This plan gives a feeling of contentment, and also a feeling of
security against the stress and needs of old age, which will do much to
hold strong people in the profession. The fear of being left penniless
in later life and dependent upon others or upon the state, induces,
without doubt, a great many persons to leave a calling so poorly paid,
in order that they may, in more generous vocations, lay something by for
"a rainy day." The truth of this is borne in upon us more strongly when
we remember that teaching is different from law, medicine, or other
professions. In these vocations a man's service usually becomes more and
more in demand as he advances in years, on account of the reputation and
experience he has gained; while in teaching, when a person arrives at
the middle line of life or after, school boards begin to say and to
think, that he is getting too old for the schoolroom, and so they seek
for younger talent. The consequence is that the good and faithful public
servant who has given the best years of his life to the education of the
young is left stranded in old age without an occupation and without
money. The insurance and retirement fund plan is a movement in the right
direction and will do something to help turn the tide of strong
personalities toward the teachers' calling.

=City and Country Salaries--Effects.=--The average salary for rural
school teachers in one state I find to be $45 a month. In that same
state the average salary of teachers in the city and town schools is $55
a month. Now, under such conditions, it is very difficult to secure a
good corps of teachers for the rural schools. If the ratio were reversed
and the rural schools paid $55 a month, while the cities and towns paid
only $45, there would be more chance of each securing teachers of equal
ability. Even then, teachers would prefer to go to the city at the lower
salary on account of the additional attractions and conveniences and the
additional facilities and opportunities of every kind for
self-improvement.

In the state referred to, the average salary of all teachers in the
common schools was $51 a month. It is utterly impossible to realize a
"profession" on such a financial basis as this. Forty-five or fifty
dollars a month for rural teachers is altogether too low. This must be
raised fifty, if not one hundred per cent, in order that a beginning may
be made in the solution of the rural school problem. Where $50 a month
seems to be the going wage, if school boards would offer $75 and then
see to it that the persons whom they hire are efficient, an attempt at
the solution of the problem in that district or neighborhood would be
made. Is it possible that any good, strong, educated, and cultured
person can be secured for less than $75 a month? If in such a district
there were eight months of school this would mean only 8 x $25, or $200
more than had been paid previously. For ten sections of land this would
mean about $20 a section, or $5 a quarter section, in addition to what
they had been paying with unsatisfactory results.

This sum often represents the difference between a poor school and a
good school. With a fifty-dollar teacher, constructive work was likely
lacking. There was little activity in the neighborhood; the pupils or
the people had not been fully waked up. There had not been enough
thinking and talking of education and of schools, enough reading, or
talking about books, about education, about things of the higher life.
Under the seventy-five-dollar teacher, wisely chosen, all this is
changed.

=The Solution Demands More.=--Instead of $75, a community should pay to
a wide-awake person, who takes hold of a situation in a neighborhood and
keeps things moving, at least $100 a month. With nine months' school
this would mean $900; and it is strange, indeed, if a person in the
prime of life who has spent many years in the preparation of his work,
and who has initiative and push, is not worth $100 a month for nine
months in the year. To such a person the people of that neighborhood
intrust their dearest and priceless possessions--their own children. If
we remember that, as the twig is bent the tree is inclined, there need
be no hesitation about the value of efficient teaching during the
plastic period of childhood. In fact, it may easily be maintained that
the salary should be even higher than this. But, if this be so, how far
are we at present from even a beginning of the solution of our rural
school problem!

=A Good School Board.=--A good school board is one whose members are
alive to their duties and wide-awake to the problems of education. They
are men or women who have an intelligent grasp of the situation and who
will earnestly attempt to solve the educational problems of school and
of life in their community.

=Board and Teacher.=--If a poor teacher and a good school board are
brought together the chances are that they will soon part company. A
good school board will not retain a poor teacher longer than it is
compelled to do so. A poor school board and a good teacher will also
part company, for the good teacher will not stay; he will leave and find
relief as soon as possible. Under a poor school board and a poor teacher
nothing will be done; the children, instead of being educated, will be
de-educated. Quarrels and dissensions will be created in the
neighborhood and a miserable condition, educationally and socially, will
prevail. If a good school board and a good teacher join hands, the
problem is solved, or at least is in a fair way to being solved. This
last condition will mean an interested school, a united neighborhood, a
live, wide-awake, and happy community.

=The Ideal.=--It is as impossible to describe a successful solution of
the problems of any particular school as it is to paint the lily, the
rose, or the rainbow. All are equally indescribable and intangible, but
nevertheless the more real, potent, and inspiring on that account. Such
a situation means the presence of a strong life, a strong mind, and a
strong hand exemplifying ideals every day. This is education, this is
growth, this is real life.

CHAPTER IX

THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM

=Imitation.=--There are two processes by which all progress is attained,
namely, imitation and invention. Imitation is found everywhere, in all
spheres of thought and of action. Children are great imitators, and
adults are only children grown up. Imitation, of course, is a necessary
thing. Without it no use could be made of past experience. When it
conserves and propagates the good it is to be commended; but the
worthless and the bad are often imitated also. As imitation is necessary
for the preservation of past experience, so invention is equally
essential in blazing new paths of thought and of action. It is probably
true that all persons are more prone to imitation than to invention.

=The Country Imitates the City.=--The rural schools have always imitated
the city schools, as rural life attempts to imitate city life. Many of
the books used in rural schools have been written largely with city
conditions in mind and by authors who have been city bred or city won.
These books have about them the atmosphere and the flavor of the city.
Their selections as a rule contain references and allusions without
number to city life, and give a cityward bent; their connotation and
attitude tend to direct the mind toward the city. As a consequence even
school textbooks have been potent aids in the urban trend.

=Textbooks.=--It is not urged that the subject matter of textbooks be
made altogether rural in its applications and references. The books
should not be completely _ruralized_; nor should there be two sets of
books, one for the country and one for the city. But there should be a
more even balance between the city aspect and the rural aspect of
textbooks, whether used in the country or in the city. If some of the
texts now used were rewritten with the purpose of attaining that
balance, they would greatly assist the curriculum in both country and
city schools. There is no reason why city children should not have their
minds touched by the life, the thought, and the activities of the
country; and it is granted that country children should be made
conscious and cognizant of the life, the thought, and the activities of
the city. There is no more reason why textbooks should carry the urban
message, than that they should be dominantly ruralizing.

=An Interpreting Core.=--The experiences of country children are of all
kinds; rural life, thought, and aspirations constitute the very
development of their consciousness and minds. In all their practical
experiences rural life and thought form the anchorage of their later
academic instruction. This early experience constitutes what the
Herbartians term their "apperception mass"; and children, as well as
grown-ups, can interpret new matter only in terms of the old. The
experiences of the child, which constitute his world of thought, of
discourse, and of action, are the only means by which he grasps and
interprets new thought and experience. Consequently, the texts which
rural children use should make a strong appeal to their apperception
mass--to their old stock and store of knowledge. It is the textbooks
that bring to the old knowledge new mental material which the teacher
and the textbook together attempt to communicate to the children.
Without an interpreting center--a stock and store of old knowledge which
constitute the very mental life of the child--it is impossible for him
to assimilate the new. The old experiences are, in fact, the mental
digestive apparatus of the child. Without this center, or core, the new
instead of being assimilated is, so to speak, merely stuck on. This is
the case with much of the subject matter in city-made texts. It does not
_grow_, but soon withers and falls away. It is, then, essential that the
textbooks used in rural schools should have the rural bent and
application, the rural flavor, the rural beck and welcome.

=Rural Teachers from the City.=--A great many teachers of country
schools come from the city. A number of these are young girls having,
without blame on their part, the tone and temper, the attitude, spirit,
and training which the city gives. Their minds have been _urbanized_;
all their thoughts are city thoughts. The textbooks which they have used
have been city textbooks; their teachers have for the most part been
those in or from the city. It can scarcely be expected that such
teachers can do for the rural districts all that ought to be done. Very
naturally they inspire some of the children with the idea of ultimately
going to the city. This suggestion and this inspiration are given
unconsciously, but in the years of childhood they take deep root and
sooner or later work themselves out in an additional impetus to the
urban trend.

=A Course for Rural Teachers.=--What is needed is a course of
instruction for rural teachers, in every state of the Union. In some
states the agricultural colleges have inaugurated a movement to this
end. In such colleges, agricultural high schools, and institutions of a
similar kind in every state, a three-year course for teachers above the
eighth year, specially designed to prepare them for rural school
teaching, should be established. Such a school would furnish the proper
atmosphere and the proper courses of instruction to suffuse the minds of
these prospective teachers with appreciation and love of country life
and rural school work.

=All Not to Remain in the Country.=--It is not contended here that all
who are born and brought up in the country ought to remain there for
life. Many writers and speakers preach the gospel of "the country for
country children," but this cannot be sound. Each one, as the years go
by, should "find" himself and his own proper place. There are many
children brought up in the country who find their place best in the
heart of the great city; and there are many brought up in the cities who
ultimately find themselves and their place in the country and in its
work. While all this is true it may still be maintained that the proper
mental food for country children is the life and the activities of the
country; and if this life and these activities are made pleasant and
attractive a larger percentage of country children will remain in the
country for the benefit of both country and city.

=Mere Textbook Teaching.=--Many teachers in the country, as well as in
the city, follow literally the textbooks provided for them. Textbooks,
being common and general, must leave the application of the thought
largely to the teacher. To follow them is probably the easiest kind of
teaching, for the mind then moves along the line of least resistance.
Accordingly the tendency is merely to teach textbooks, without
libraries, laboratories, and other facilities for the application of the
thought of the text. Application and illustration are always difficult.
It frequently happens that children go through their textbooks under the
guidance of their more or less mechanical teachers, without making any
application of their knowledge. Their learning seems to be stored away
in pigeonholes and never used again. That in one pigeonhole does not
mix with that in another. Their thoughts and their education in
different fields are in no sense united. Pupils are surprised if they
are asked or expected to use their knowledge in any practical manner. A
man who had a tank, seven feet in diameter and eight feet high, about
half full of gasoline, asked his daughter, who was completing the eighth
grade, to figure out for him how many gallons it contained. She had just
been over "weights and measures" and "denominate numbers" of all kinds.
After much figuring she returned the answer that there were in it about
seven and one half gallons, without ever suspecting the ridiculousness
of the result.

=A Rich Environment.=--The country is so rich in material of all kinds
for scientific observation, that some education should be given to the
rural child in this field. Agriculture and its various activities
surround the child; nature teems with life, both animal and vegetable;
the country furnishes long stretches of meadow and woodland for
observation and study. Yet in most places the children are blind to the
beauties and wonders around them. Nature study in such an environment
should be a fascinating subject, and agriculture is full of
possibilities for the application of the thought in the textbooks.

=Who Will Teach These Things?=--But who will teach these new sciences or
open the eyes of the child to the beauties around him? Not everyone can
do it. It will require a master. Teaching "at" these things in a dull,
perfunctory way will do no good. It would be better to leave them
untaught. We have, everywhere, too much "attempting" to teach and not
enough teaching, too much seeming and not enough being, too much
appearance and not enough reality.

An example will illustrate the author's meaning. Some years ago an
experienced institute conductor in a western state found himself the
sole instructor when the teachers of the county convened. He sought
among the teachers for someone who could and would give him assistance.
One man of middle age, who had taught for many years, volunteered to
take the subject of arithmetic and to give four lessons of forty minutes
each in it during the week. This was good news to the conductor; he
congratulated himself on having found some efficient help. His
assistant, however, after talking on arithmetic for ten minutes of his
first period, reached the limit of his capacity, either of thought or of
expression, and had to stop. He could not say another word on that
subject during the week! Now if this is true of an experienced
middle-aged teacher of a subject so universally taught as arithmetic,
how much more true must it be of an instructor in a subject like
agriculture. It should not be expected that a young girl, eighteen or
twenty years of age, who has probably been brought up in the city and
who has had the subject of agriculture only one period a day for a year,
can give any adequate instruction in that branch. She would be the butt
for ridicule among the practical boys and girls in the country who
would probably know more about such things than she. She would,
therefore, lose the respect and confidence of pupils and parents, and it
would really be better for her and for all concerned not to attempt the
teaching of that subject at all. What is worth doing at all is worth
doing well. A little instruction well given and well applied is worth
any amount of "stuff" poorly done and unapplied.

=The Scientific Spirit Needed.=--There is great need of teachers who are
thoroughly imbued with the scientific spirit. In the country especially
there is need of teachers who will rouse the boys and girls to the
investigation of problems from the facts at hand and all around them.
This should be done inductively and in an investigative spirit. Our
whole system of education seems somewhat vitiated by the deductive
attitude and method of teaching--the assuming of theories handed down by
the past, without investigation or verification. This is the kind of
teaching which has paralyzed China for untold generations. The easiest
thing to do is to accept something which somebody else has formulated
and then, without further ado, to be content with it. The truly
scientific mind, the investigative mind, is one that starts with facts
or phenomena and, after observing a sufficient number of them,
formulates a conclusion and tests it. This will result in real
thinking--which is the same as "thinging." It is putting _things_ into
causal relation and constructing from them, unity out of diversity. To
induce this habit of thought, to inspire this spirit of investigation
and observation in children is the essence of teaching. To teach is to
cause others to _think_, and the man or woman who does this is a
successful teacher.

=A Course of Study.=--There should be in every rural school a simple and
suggestive course of study. This should not be as large as a textbook.
The purpose of it is not to indicate at great length and in detail
either the matter or the manner of teaching any specific subject. It
should be merely an outline of the metes and bounds in the processes and
the progress of pupils through the grades. The course of study should be
a means, not an end; it should be a servant and not a master. It should
not entail upon the school or upon the teacher a vast complicated
machinery or an endless routine of red tape. If it does this it defeats
its true aim. Here again the country schools have attempted to imitate
the city schools. In all cities grading is much more systematized, and
is pushed to a greater extent than it is or should be in the country.
Owing to the necessities of the situation and also to the convenience of
the plan in the cities, the grades, with their appropriate books, amount
of work, and plan of procedure, are much more definite than is possible
or desirable in the country. To grade the country schools as definitely
and as systematically as is done in the city would be to do them an
irreparable injury. The country would make a great mistake to imitate
the city school systems in its courses of study.

=Red Tape.=--It sometimes happens that county and state superintendents,
in performing the duties of their office, think it necessary to impose
upon the country schools a variety of tests, examinations, reports, and
what-not, which accomplish but little and may result in positive injury.
To pile up complications and intricacies having no practical educational
value is utterly useless. It indicates the lack of a true conception of
the school situation. Such haphazard methods will not teach alone any
more than a saw will saw alone. Behind it all must be the simple, great
teacher, and for him all these things, beyond a reasonable extent, are
hindrances to progress.

=Length of Term.=--In very many country districts the terms are
frequently only six months in the year. This should be extended to eight
at least. Even in this case, it gives the rural school a shorter term
than the city school, which usually has nine or ten months each year.
But it is very probable that the simplicity of rural school life and
rural school teaching will enable pupils to do as much in eight months
as is done in the city in nine.

=Individual Work.=--Individual work should be the rule in many subjects.
There is no need, on account of numbers, of a lock-step. In the cities,
where the teacher has probably an average of 35 to 40 children, all the
pupils are held together and in line. In such cases the great danger is
to those above the average. There is the danger of forming what might be
called the "slow habit." The bright pupils are retarded in their work,
for they are capable of much more than they do. In such cases the
retardation is not on account of the inability of the pupil but on
account of the system. The bright ones are held back in line with the
slow. This need not be the case in rural schools. Here, in every subject
which lends itself to the plan, each pupil should be allowed to go as
far and as fast as he can, provided that he appreciates the thought,
solves the problems, and understands the work as he goes. I once knew a
large rural school in which there were enrolled about sixty pupils,
taking the subjects of all the grades, from the first to the eighth and
even some high school subjects. In such classes as arithmetic the pupils
were, so to speak, "turned loose" and all entered upon a race for the
goal. Each one did as much as he could, his attainments being subjected
to the test of examination. The plan worked excellently; no one was
retarded, and all were intensely busy.

="Waking Up the Mind."=--The main thing in any school is not the amount
of knowledge which pupils get from textbooks or from the teacher, but
the extent to which the mind appropriates that knowledge and is "waked
up" by it. Mr. Page in his excellent classic, _The Theory and Practice
of Teaching_, has a chapter called "Waking Up the Mind" and some
excellent illustrations as to how it may be done. The main thing is not
the amount of mere knowledge or information held in memory for future
delivery, but the spirit and attitude of it all. The extent to which
children's minds are made awake and sensitive, and the extent to which
they are inspired to pursue with zest and spirit any new problem are the
best criterions of success in teaching. The spirit and method of attack
is all-important; quantity is secondary. If children have each other, so
to speak, "by the ears," over some problem from one day to the next, it
indicates that the school and the teacher are awake, that they are up
and doing, and that education, which is a process of leavening, is
taking place.

=The Overflow of Instruction.=--On account of the individual work which
is possible in the country schools, what is sometimes called the
"overflow of instruction" is an important factor in the stimulation and
the education of all the children in the room. In the city school, where
all are on a dead level, doing the same work, there is not much
information or inspiration descending from above, for there is no class
above. But in the rural school, children hear either consciously or
unconsciously much that is going on around them. They hear the larger
boys and girls recite and discuss many interesting things. These
discussions wake up minds by sowing the seeds which afterwards come to
flower and fruit in those who listen--in those who, in fact, cannot help
hearing.

I remember an incident which occurred during my experience as a pupil in
a country school. A certain county superintendent, who used to visit the
school periodically, was in the habit, on these occasions, of reading to
the school for probably half an hour. Just what he read I do not even
remember, but I recall vividly his quiet manner and attitude, his
beautiful and simple expression, and the whole tone and temper of the
man as he gathered the thought and expressed it so beautifully and so
artistically. This type of thing has great influence. It is often the
intangible thing that tells and that is valuable. In every case, that
which is most artistically done is probably that which leaves its
impression.

=Affiliation.=--In some states, notably in Minnesota, an excellent plan
is in vogue by which the schools surrounding a town or a city are
affiliated with the city schools in such a manner as to receive the
benefit of the instruction of certain special teachers from the city.
These teachers--of manual training, domestic science, agriculture,
etc.--are sent out from the city to these rural schools two or three
times a week, and in return the country children beyond a certain grade
are sent to the high school in the city. This is a process of
affiliation which is stimulating and economical, and can be encouraged
with good results.

[Illustration: A Christmas gathering at the new school]

[Illustration: A school garden in the larger center]

=The "Liking Point."=--In the teaching of all subjects the important
thing is that the pupil reach what may be termed the "liking point."
Until a pupil has reached that point in any subject of study his work
is mere drudgery--it is work which is probably disliked. The great
problem for the teacher is to bring the child as soon as possible to
this liking point, and then to keep him there. It is probable that every
pupil can be brought to the liking point of every subject by a good
teacher. Where there is difficulty in doing this, something has gone
wrong somewhere, either on the part of the pupil, his former teachers,
his parents, or his companions. When a pupil has reached the liking
point it means that he has a keen relish, an appetite for the subject,
and in this condition he will actively pursue it.

=The Teacher the Chief Factor.=--The foregoing observations imply again
that the teacher, after all, is the great factor in the success of the
school. He is the "man behind the gun"; he is the engineer at the
throttle; he is the master at the helm; he is the guide, for he has been
over the road; he is the organizer, the center of things; he is the
mainspring; he is the soul of the school, and is greater than books or
courses of study. He is the living fire at which all the children must
light their torches. Again we ask, how can this kind of person be found?
Without him true education, in its best sense, cannot be secured; with
him the paltry consideration of salary should not enter. Without such
teachers there can be no solution of the rural school problems, nor,
indeed, of the rural life problems. With him and those of his class,
there is great hope.

CHAPTER X

THE SOCIAL CENTER

During the past few years we have heard much of what is called the
"social center," or the "community center," in rural districts. This
idea has grown with the spread of the consolidation of schools, and
means, as the name implies, a unifying, coördinating, organizing agency
of some kind in the midst of the community, to bring about a harmony and
solidity of all the interests there represented. It implies of course a
leader; for what is left to be done by people in general is likely to be
done poorly. There is no doubt that this idea should be encouraged and
promoted. People living in the country are of necessity forced to a life
of isolation. Their very work and position necessitate this, and
consequently it is all the more necessary that they should frequently
come together in order to know each other and to act together for the
benefit of all. "In union there is strength," but these people have
always been under a great disadvantage in every way, because they have
not organized for the purpose of united and effective coöperation.

=The Teacher, the Leader.=--There is no more appropriate person to bring
about this organization, this unification, this increased solidarity,
than the public school teacher of the community; but it will require the
head and the hand of a real master to lead a community--to organize it,
to unite it, and to keep it united. It requires a person of rare
strength and tact, a person who has a clear head and a large heart, and
who is "up and doing" all the time. A good second to such a person would
be the minister of the neighborhood, provided he has breadth of view and
a kindly and tolerant spirit. Much of the success of rural life in
foreign countries, notably in Denmark, is due to the combined efforts of
the schoolmaster and the minister of the community church.

=Some Community Activities.=--Let us suggest briefly some of the
activities that are conducive to the fuller life of such a social
center. It is true that these activities are more possible in the
consolidated districts than in the communities where consolidation has
not been effected; but many of them could be provided even in the small
schools.

=The Literary Society.=--There should be in every school district a
literary society of some kind. This of course must not be overworked,
for other kinds of activities also should be organized in order to give
the change which interest demands. In this literary society the interest
and assistance of the adults of the neighborhood and the district, who
are willing and able to coöperate, should be enlisted. There are in
every community a few men and women who will gladly assist in a work of
this kind if their interest can be properly aroused. There is scarcely
any better stimulus to the general interest of a neighborhood, and
especially of the children in the school, than seeing and hearing some
of the grown-up men and women who are their neighbors participate in
such literary work.

=Debates.=--An important phase of the literary work of such a society
should be an occasional debate. This might be participated in sometimes
by adults who are not going to school, and sometimes by the bigger and
more advanced pupils. Topics that are timely and of interest to the
whole community should be discussed. There is probably no better way of
teaching a tolerant spirit and respect for the honest opinions of others
than the habit of "give and take" in debate. In such debates judges
could sometimes be appointed and at other times the relative merits of
the case and of the debaters might well be left to the people of the
neighborhood without any formal decision having been rendered. This
latter plan is the one used in practical life in regard to addresses and
debates on the political platform. The discussions and differences of
opinion following such debates constitute no small part of life and
thought manifested later in the community.

=The School Program.=--A program or exhibition by the school should be
given occasionally. This would differ from the work of the literary
society in that it would be confined to the pupils of the school. Such
a program should be a sample of what the pupils are doing and can do. It
should be a mental exhibition of the school activities. There is
scarcely anything that attracts the people and the parents of the
neighborhood more than the literary performances of their children,
younger and older. Such performances, as in other cases, may be
overdone; they may be put forward too frequently; they may also be too
lengthy. But the teacher with a true perspective will see to it that all
such extremes are avoided, for he realizes that there are other
activities which must be developed and presented in order to secure a
change of interest. These school programs occupy the mind and thought of
the community for some time. The performance of the different parts and
the efforts of the various children--both their successes and their
failures--become the subjects of thought and of talk in the
neighborhood. It acts like a kind of ferment in the social mind; it
keeps the school and the community talking and thinking of school and of
education.

=Spelling Schools.=--For a change, even an old-fashioned spelling school
is not to be scorned. Years ago this was quite the custom. An entire
school would, on a challenge, go as a sleigh-ride party to the
challenging school. There the spelling contest would take place. One of
the teachers, either the host or the guest, would pronounce the words,
and the visiting school would return, either victorious or vanquished.
A performance of this kind enlists the attention and the interest of
people and schools in the necessity of good spelling; it affords a
delightful social recreation, stirs up thought and wakes up mind in both
communities, by an interesting and courteous contest. Such results are
not to be undervalued.

=Lectures.=--If the school is a consolidated one, or even a large
district school, a good lecture course may be given to advantage. Here,
again, care must be taken that the lectures, even if few, shall be
choice. Nothing will kill a course of lectures sooner than to have the
people deceived a few times by poor ones. It would be better to have
three good lectures during the year than six that would be
disappointing. These lecture courses may be secured in almost every
state through the Extension Department of the various state
institutions. Recently the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North
Dakota have entered into an arrangement whereby they will furnish any
rural or urban community of these states with good lecturers at a very
small consideration. Excellent lectures can be secured in this way on a
great variety of subjects, including those most interesting to rural
communities and most helpful in all phases of farm life. These might be
secured in the winter season when there is ample time and leisure for
all to attend.

=Dramatic Performances.=--In the social centers where the conveniences
admit, simple dramatic performances might be worked up or secured from
the outside. It is a fact that life in some country communities is not
sufficiently cheered through the agency of the imagination. The tendency
is for farmers and farmers' families to live a rather humdrum existence
involving a good deal of toil. On the secluded farms during the long
winter months, there is not much social intercourse. It has been
asserted that the isolation and solitariness in sparsely settled
districts are causes of the high percentage of insanity in rural and
frontier communities. It is good for the mental and physical health of
both old and young to be lifted, once in a while, out of the world of
reality into that of the imagination. All children and young people like
to play, to act, to make believe. This is a part of their life, and it
is conducive to their mental and social welfare to express themselves in
simple plays or to see life in its various phases presented dramatically
by others.

=A Musical Program.=--If the teacher is a leader he will either be able,
himself, to arrange a musical entertainment, or he will secure some one
who can and will do so. All, it is contended, can learn to sing if they
begin early enough; and there is probably no better mode of
self-expression and no better way of waking up people emotionally and
socially than to engage them in singing. The importance of singing, to
secure good and right emotional attitudes toward life and mankind, is
indicated in the saying, "Let me make the songs of a nation and I care
not who makes her laws." The importance of singing is recognized to a
much greater extent in foreign countries, notably in Germany, than in
America. In Germany all sing; in America, it is to be regretted, but few
sing. There should be a real renaissance in music throughout the
country. As an aid in the teaching of music and of song, that marvelous
invention, the "talking machine," should be made use of. It would be an
excellent thing if a phonograph could be put in every school. Children
would become acquainted with the best music; they would grow to like it,
as the weeks, months, and years roll on. This machine is a wonderful
help in developing an appreciation of good music.

=Slides and Moving Pictures.=--In the consolidated schools, where there
is a suitable hall, a moving-picture entertainment of the right kind is
to be commended. The screens and the lantern enable us, in our
imaginations, to live in all countries and climes. The eye is the royal
road to the mind, and most people are eye-minded; and the moving picture
is a wonderful agency to convey to the mind, through the eye, accurate
pictures of the world around us, natural and social. The community
center--the school center--should avail itself of all such inventions.

=Supervised Dancing.=--Even the supervised dance, where the sentiment of
the community will allow, is not to be condemned. It is much better to
have young people attend dances that are supervised than to attend
public dances that are not supervised; and young people, as a rule,
will attend one or the other. The practical question or condition is one
of supervision or no supervision, for the dance is here. The dance
properly supervised, and conducted in a courteous, formal way, beginning
and closing at the right time, can probably be turned to good and made
an occasion for social and individual culture. The niceties and
amenities of life can there be inculcated. There is no good reason why
the dance activities should be turned over to the devil. There was a
time and there were places where violin playing was turned over to him
and banished from the churches. Dancing is too old, too general, too
instinctive, and too important, not to be recognized as a means to
social culture. Here again the sane teacher can be an efficient
supervisor. He can take care that the young people do not become
entirely dance-minded.

=Sports and Games.=--The various sports should not be forgotten.
Skating, curling, and hockey, basketball, and volley ball, are all fine
winter sports; in summer, teams should be organized in baseball, tennis,
and all the proper athletic sports and games. Play should be supervised
to a certain extent; over-supervision will kill it. Sometimes plays that
are not supervised at all degenerate and become worse than none. All of
these physical activities and sports should be found and fostered in the
rural center. They are healthful, both physically and mentally, and
should be participated in by both girls and boys.

It is probably true that our schools and our education have stood, to
too great an extent, for mere intellectual acquisition and training. In
Sparta of old, education was probably nine tenths physical and one tenth
mental. In these modern days education seems to be about ninety-nine
parts mental. A sound body is the foundation of a sound mind, and time
is not lost in devoting much attention to the play and games of children
and young people. There is no danger in the schools of our day of going
to an extreme in the direction of physical education; the danger is in
not going far enough. I am not sure that it would not be better if the
children in every school were kept in the open air half the time
learning and participating in various games and sports, instead of, as
now, poring over books and memorizing a lot of stuff that will never
function on land or sea.

=School Exhibits.=--In the social centers a school exhibit could be
occasionally given with great profit. If domestic science is taught, an
occasion should be made to invite the people of the neighborhood to
sample the products, for the test of the pudding is in the eating. This
would make a delightful social occasion for the men and women of the
community to meet each other, and the after-effects in the way of
favorable comment and thought would be good. If manual training is an
activity of the school, as it ought to be, a good exhibit of the product
of this department could be given. If agriculture is taught and there
is a school garden, as there should be, an exhibit once a year would
produce most desirable effects in the community along agricultural
lines.

=A Public Forum.=--Aside from provisions for school activities in this
social center there should be a hall where public questions can be
discussed. All political parties should be given equal opportunities to
present their claims before the people of the community. This would tend
toward instruction, enlightenment, and toleration. The interesting
questions of the day, in political and social life, should be discussed
by exponents chosen by the social center committee. In America we have
learned the lesson of listening quietly to speakers in a public meeting,
whether we agree with them or not. In some countries, when a man rises
to expound his political theories, he is hissed down or driven from the
stage by force. This is not the American way. In America each man has
his hour, and all listen attentively and respectfully to him. The next
evening his opponent may have his hour, his inning, and the audience is
as respectful to him. This is as it should be; this is the true spirit
of toleration which should prevail everywhere and which can be
cultivated to great advantage in these rural, social centers. It makes,
too, for the fullness of life in rural communities. It makes country
life more pleasant and serves in some degree to counteract the strong
but regrettable urban trend.

=Courtesy and Candor.=--There are two extremes in debates and in public
discussions which should be equally avoided: The first is that brutal
frankness which forgets to be courteous; and the second is that extreme
of hypocritical courtesy which forgets to be candid. What is needed
everywhere is the candor which is also courteous and the courtesy which
is likewise candid. In impulsive youth and in lack of education and
culture, brutal candor without courtesy sometimes manifests itself;
while courtesy without candor is too often exhibited by shrewd
politicians and diplomatic intriguers.

=Automobile Parties.=--A delightful and profitable occasion could be
made by the men of the rural community who are the owners of
automobiles, by taking all the children of the community and of the
schools, once in a while, for an automobile ride to near or distant
parts of the county. Such an occasion would never be forgotten by them.
It would be enjoyable to those who give as well as to those who receive,
and would have great educational as well as social value. It would bind
together both young and old of the community. Occasions like these would
also conduce to the good-roads movement so commendable and important
throughout the country. The automobile and the consolidation of rural
schools, resulting in social centers, are large factors in the
good-roads movement.

=Full Life or a Full Purse.=--The community which has been centralized
socially and educationally may often bring upon itself additional
expense to provide the necessary hall, playgrounds, and other
conveniences required to realize and to make all of these activities
most effective. But this is a local problem which must be tackled and
solved by each community for itself. The community where the right
spirit prevails will realize that they must make some sacrifices. If a
thing is worth while, the proper means must be provided. One cannot have
the benefit without paying the cost. It is a question as to which a
community will choose: a monotonous, isolated life _with_ the
accumulation of some money, or an active, enthusiastic, educational, and
social life _without_ so many dollars. It is really a choice between
money with little life on the one hand, and a little less money with
more fullness of life on the other. Life, after all, is the only thing
worth while, and in progressive communities its enrichment will be
chosen at any cost. Here again it is the duty of the teacher to bring
about the right spirit and attitude and the right decision in regard to
all these important questions.

=Organization.=--A community which is socially and educationally
organized will need a central post office and town hall, a community
store, a grain elevator, a church, and possibly other community
agencies. All of these things tend to solidify and bring together the
people at a common center.

This suggests organization of some kind in the community. The old
grange was good in its ideal; the purpose was to unite and bring people
together for mutual help. There should probably be a young men's society
of some kind, and an organization of the girls and women of the
community. It is true that the matter may be overdone and we may have
such a thing as activity merely for the sake of activity. It was Carlyle
who said that some people are noted for "fussy littleness and an
infinite deal of nothing." The golden mean should apply here as
elsewhere.

=The Inseparables.=--To bring all of these things about requires talent
and ingenuity on the part of the leader or leaders; and we come again to
the inseparables mentioned in a former chapter. It will require a great
personality to organize. The word "great" implies a high standard; and
strong personalities, such as are capable of managing a social center,
cannot possibly be secured without an adequate inducement in the way of
salary. Proper compensation cannot mean sixty, seventy-five, or one
hundred dollars a month. It must mean also permanence of position. Again
we come face to face with the problem of the teacher in our solution of
the problem of rural life and the rural school.

In conclusion it must be said that nothing is too good for the country
which is not too good for the city. The rural community must determine
to have all these good things at any cost, if it wishes to work out its
own salvation.

CHAPTER XI

RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION

=Important.=--Supervision is fully as important as teaching. The
supervisor must be, to even a higher degree than the teacher, a strong
personality, and this too implies a high standard and an attractive
salary. The supervisor or superintendent must be somewhat of an expert
in the methods of teaching all the common school subjects. Not only must
he understand school discipline and organization in its details, but he
must possess the ability to "turn in" and exemplify his qualifications
at any time. It will be seen everywhere that the supervisor or
superintendent is the expensive person; for, having the elements of
leadership, he is in demand in educational positions as well as in
outside callings. Consequently it is only by a good financial
inducement, as a rule, that a competent supervisor can be retained in
the profession.

=Supervision Standardizes.=--Without the superintendent or supervisor,
no common standard can be attained or maintained. It is he who keeps the
force up to the line; without him each teacher is a law unto himself and
there will be as many standards as there are teachers. Human nature is
innately slothful and negligent, and needs the spirit of supervision to
keep it toned up to the necessary pitch. Supervision over a large force
of workers of any kind is absolutely necessary to secure efficiency, and
to keep service up to a high standard.

=Supervision Can Be Overdone.=--The necessity for supervision is clearly
felt in the city systems. There they have a general superintendent,
principals of buildings, and supervisors in various special lines. A
system of schools in the city without supervision would simply go to
pieces. It would soon cease to be a system, and would become chaotic. It
may be, it is true, that in some cities there is too much supervision;
it may become acute and pass the line of true efficiency. Indeed, in
some cities the red tape may become so complicated and systematized that
it becomes an end, and schools and pupils seem to exist for supervisors
and systems instead of _vice versa_. It is probably true that the
constant presence of a supervisor who is adversely critical may do
injury to the efficiency of a good teacher. No one can teach as well
under disapprobation as he can where he feels that his hands are free;
and so in some places supervision may act as a wet blanket. It may
suppress spontaneity, initiative, and real life in the school. But this
is only an abuse of a good thing, and probably does not occur
frequently. In any event, the exception would only prove the rule.
Supervision is as necessary in a system of schools as it is in a
railroad or in large industries.

[Illustration: A basket ball team for the girls]

[Illustration: A brass band for the young men]

[Caption for the above illustrations: ACTIVITIES OF THE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL]

=Needed in Rural Schools.=--The country partakes of the same isolation
in regard to its schools as it does in regard to life in general. This
isolation is accentuated where there is little or no supervision.
Without it, the necessary stimulus seldom or never touches the life of
the teacher or the school. There is little uplift; the school runs along
in its ordinary, humdrum fashion, and never measures itself with other
schools, and is seldom measured by a supervisor. A poor teacher may be
in the chair one term and a good teacher another. The terms are short
and the service somewhat disconnected. The whole situation gives the
impression to people, pupils, and teacher that education is not of very
great value.

=No Supervision in Some States.=--In some states there is but little
supervision. There may be, it is true, a district board, but these are
laymen, much better acquainted with the principles of farming than with
those of teaching. They have no standards for judging a school and
seldom visit one. The selection known as the "Deestrict Skule"
illustrates fairly well the ability of the old-time school board to pass
judgment upon the professional merits of the teacher.

=Nominal Supervision.=--In other states there is a county superintendent
on part time who has a kind of general but attenuated supervision over
all the schools of a county. He is usually engaged in some other line of
work--in business, in medicine, in law, in preaching--and can give only
a small portion of his time to the work of superintendence. Indeed,
this means only an occasional visit to the school, probably once every
one or two years, and such simple and necessary reports as are demanded
by the state superintendent or State Board of Education. Such
supervision, however honestly performed, accomplishes but little. The
superintendent may visit the teacher to-day, but when he returns a year
hence, he is likely to find another teacher in charge. Under such
circumstances, what can he do? He has seen the teacher at work for half
an hour or an hour; he offers a suggestion, or makes some complimentary
remark, and goes his way. No one realizes better than he how little he
has been able to accomplish. And yet, under existing circumstances he
has done all that could be expected.

=Some Supervision.=--There are, elsewhere, county superintendents who
devote their whole time to the work, but who are chosen for short terms
and in a political campaign. Very frequently these men are elected for
political reasons quite as much as for educational fitness. If a
superintendent so elected is politically minded--and I regret to say
that sometimes this is the case--he will probably devote much time,
energy, and thought to paving the way for reëlection. Expecting to be a
candidate for a second term, he will use his best efforts to impress the
public mind in his favor. This sometimes results in greater attention to
the duties of his office and the consequent betterment of the schools;
but, too often, it works in the opposite direction. Being elected for
only two years, he has not the time to carry out any educational policy
no matter how excellent his plans may be. Of course many persons chosen
in this way make excellent and efficient officers, but the plan is bad.
The good superintendent frequently loses out soonest.

=An Impossible Task.=--Superintendents sometimes have under their
jurisdiction from one hundred to two hundred, or even more, schools
separated by long distances. The law usually prescribes that the county
superintendent shall visit each school at least once a year. This means
that practically he will do no more; indeed it is often impossible to do
more. It means that his visits must of necessity be a mere perfunctory
call of an hour or two's duration with no opportunity to see the same
teacher again at work to determine whether or not she is making
progress, and whether she is carrying out his instructions. Such
so-called supervision, or superintendence, is not supervision at
all--how can it be? The superintendent is only a clerical officer who
does the work required by law, and makes incidentally an annual social
visit to the schools.

=The Problem Not Tackled.=--Such a situation is another evidence that
the states which tolerate the foregoing conditions have not, in any real
and earnest manner, attempted to solve the problem of rural school
supervision. They have merely let things drift along as they would, not
fully realizing the problem or else trusting to time to come to their
aid. Micawber-like, they are waiting for "something to turn up." But
such problems will not solve themselves.

=City Supervision.=--Compare the supervision described above with that
which is usually found in cities. There we usually find a general
superintendent and assistant superintendents; there are high school
principals and a principal at the head of every grade building; there is
also a supervisor of manual training, of domestic science, of music, of
drawing, and possibly of other subjects. When we consider, too, that the
teachers in the city are all close at hand and that the supervisor or
superintendent may drop into any room at any time with scarcely a
minute's notice, we see the difference between city supervision and
country supervision. Add to this the fact that cities attract the strong
teachers--the professionally trained teachers, the output of the
professional schools--and we can see again how effective supervision
becomes in the city as compared with that in the country. In the country
we find only one superintendent for a county often as large as some of
the older states, and the possibility of visiting each school only about
once a year. Here also are the teachers who are not professionalized, as
a rule, and who, therefore, need supervision most.

=The Purpose of Supervision.=--The main purpose of supervision is to
bring teachers up to a required standard of excellence in their work and
to keep them there. It is always the easiest plan to dismiss a teacher
who is found deficient, but this is cutting the knot rather than untying
it. Efficient and intelligent supervision proceeds along the line of
building such a teacher up, of making her strong where she is weak, of
giving her initiative where she lacks it, of inculcating good methods
where she is pursuing poor ones, of inducing her to come out of her
shell where she is backward and diffident. In other words, the great
work of the supervisor is to elicit from teachers their most active and
hearty response in all positive directions. It should be understood by
teachers--and they should know that the superintendent or supervisor
indorses the idea--that it is always better to go ahead and blunder than
to stand still for fear of blundering; and so, in the presence of a good
supervisor, the teacher is not afraid to let herself out. In the
conference, later, between herself and her supervisor, mistakes may be
pointed out; but, better than this, the best traits of the teacher
should be brought to her mind and the weak ones but lightly referred to.

=What Is Needed.=--What is needed in the rural situation is a county
superintendent chosen because of his professional fitness by a county
board whose members have been elected at large. This board should be
elected on a nonpartisan ticket and so far as possible on a basis of
qualification and of good judgment in educational matters. It should
hold office for a period of years, some members retiring from the board
annually so that there shall not be, at any time, an entirely new board.
This would insure continuity. Another plan for a county board would be
to have the presidents of the district boards act as a county board of
education. Such a board should be authorized--and indeed this tradition
should be established--to select a county superintendent from applicants
from outside as well as inside the county. They should be empowered to
go anywhere in the country for a superintendent with a reputation in the
teaching profession. This is the present plan in cities, and it should
be true also in the selection of a county superintendent.

=The Term.=--The term of office of the county superintendent should be
at the discretion of the county board. It should be not less than three
or four years--of sufficient length to enable a man to carry out a line
of policy in educational administration. The status of the county
superintendency should be similar to that of the city superintendency.

=Assistants.=--The county board should be empowered to provide
assistants for the county superintendent. There should be one such
assistant for about thirty or thirty-five schools. It is almost
impossible for a supervisor to do efficient and effective work if he has
more than this number of schools, located, as they are, some distance
apart. Provision for such assistants, who should, like the
superintendent himself, be experts, is based upon the assumption that
supervision is worth while, and in fact necessary in any system if
success is to be attained. If the supervision of thirty-five schools is
an important piece of work it should be well done, and a person well
qualified for that work should be selected. He should be a person of
sympathetic attitude, of high qualifications, and of experience in the
field of elementary education. The assistants should be carefully
selected by the board on the recommendation of the county
superintendent. Poor supervision is little better than none.

=The Schools Examined.=--The county superintendent and his assistants
should give, periodically, oral and written examinations in each school,
thus testing the work of both the teacher and the pupils. These
examinations should not conform in any perfunctory or red-tape manner to
a literally construed course of study. The course of study is a means
and not an end, and should be, at all points and times, elastic and
adaptable. To make pupils fit the course of study instead of making the
course of study fit the pupils is the old method of the Procrustean
bed--if the person is not long enough for it he is stretched; if too
long, a piece is cut off. Any examination or tests which would wake up
mind and stimulate education in the neighborhood may be resorted to; but
it should be remembered that examinations are likewise a means and not
an end.

Some years ago when I was a county superintendent I tried the plan of
giving such tests in any subject to classes that had completed a
definite portion of that subject and arrived at a good stopping place.
If, for example, the teacher announced that his class had acquired a
thorough knowledge of the multiplication table, I gave a searching test
upon that subject and issued a simple little certificate to the effect
that the pupil had completed it. These little certificates acted like
stakes put down along the way, to give incentive, direction, and
definiteness to the educative processes, and to stimulate a reasonable
class spirit or individual rivalry. I meet these pupils occasionally
now--they are to-day grown men and women--and they retain in their
possession these little colored certificates which they still highly
prize.

One portion of my county was populated almost entirely by Scandinavians,
and here a list of fifty to a hundred words was selected which
Scandinavian children always find it difficult to pronounce. At the
first trial many or most of the children mispronounced a large
percentage of them. I then announced that, the next time I visited the
school, I would test the pupils again on these words and others like
them, and issue "certificates of correct pronunciation" to all who were
entitled to them. I found, on the next visit, that nearly all the
children could secure these certificates. These tests created a great
impetus in the direction of correct pronunciation and language. Some
teachers, from mistaken kindness, had been accustomed to refrain from
correcting the children on such words, but as superintendent I found
that both the parents and the children wished drill in pronunciation and
were gratified at their success. This is only a sample. I would advocate
the giving of tests, or examinations, on any subject in the school
likely to lead to good results and to stimulate the minds of the pupils
in the right direction. The county superintendent and his assistants
might agree to lay the accent or the emphasis on different subjects, or
lines of work, in different years.

=Keep Down Red Tape.=--In all the work of supervision, the formal
part--the accounting and reporting part--should be kept simple; the
tendency in administrative offices is too often in the direction of
complexity and red tape. Wherever there is form merely for the sake of
form, it is well worth while to sound a note of warning against it.

=Help the Social Centers.=--The county superintendent and his assistants
can be of inestimable value in all the work of the social centers. They
should advise with school boards in regard to consolidation and other
problems agitating the community. They should lend a helping hand to
programs that are being carried out in any part of the county. They
should give lectures themselves at such social centers and, if asked,
should help the local communities and local committees in every way
within their power.

=Conclusion.=--The problem, then, of superintendence is, we conclude,
one of the large and important problems awaiting solution in rural life
and in rural schools. It is the binding force that will help to unify
all the educational activities of the county. It is one of the chief
stimulating and uplifting influences in rural education. As in the case
of most other school problems, the constant surprise is that the people
have not awakened sooner to the realization of its importance and to an
honest and earnest attempt at its solution.

CHAPTER XII

LEADERSHIP AND COÖPERATION

=The Real Leader.=--Real leadership is a scarce and choice article; true
leaders are few and far between. The best kind of leader is not one who
attempts to be at the head of every movement and to do everything
himself, but rather he who makes the greatest number of people active in
his cause. It frequently happens that the more a leader does himself,
the less his followers are inclined to do. The more active he is, the
more passive they are likely to become. As teaching is causing others to
know and react educationally, so genuine leadership is causing others to
become active in the direction of the leader's purpose, or aim. Some who
pose as leaders seek to be conspicuous in every movement, merely to
attract attention to themselves. They bid for direct and immediate
recognition instead of being content with the more remote, indirect, but
truer and more substantial reward of recognition through their followers
who are active in their leader's cause. The poor leader does not think
that there is glory enough for all, and so he monopolizes all he can of
it, leaving the remainder to those who probably do the greater part of
the work and deserve as much credit as he. The spectacular football
player who ignores the team and team work, in order to attract attention
by his individual plays, is not the best leader or the best player. The
real leader will frequently be content to see things somewhat poorly
done or not so well done, in order that his followers may pass through
the experience of doing them. It is only by having such experiences that
followers are enabled, in turn, to become leaders.

=Teaching vs. Telling.=--As has been shown in an earlier chapter, the
lack of leadership is frequently exhibited in the classroom when the
teacher, instead of inducing self-activity and self-expression on the
part of the pupils, proceeds to recite the whole lesson himself. He asks
leading questions and then, at the slightest hesitation on the part of a
pupil, he suggests the answer; he asks another leading question from
another point of view; he puts words into the mouth of the pupil who is
trying in a pitiable way to recite; and ends by covering the topic all
over with words, words, words of his own. This is poor leadership on the
part of the teacher and gives no opportunity for real coöperation on the
part of the pupils. The teacher takes all the glory of reciting, and
leaves the pupil without an opportunity or the reward of
self-expression.

=Enlisting the Coöperation of Pupils.=--All children--and in fact all
people--if approached or stimulated in the proper way--like to _do_
things, to perform services for others. A pupil always considers it a
compliment to be asked by his teacher to do something for him, if the
relations between the teacher and pupil are normal and cordial. This
must, of course, be the case if any truly educative response is to be
elicited. Socrates once said that a person cannot learn from one whom he
does not love. The relation between pupil and teacher should be one of
mutual love and respect, if the educational process is to obtain. If
this relation does not exist, the first duty of the teacher is to bring
it about. Sometimes this is difficult. I once heard a teacher say that
it took him about three weeks to establish this relation between himself
and one of his pupils. He finally invited the pupil out hunting with him
one Saturday, and after that they were the best of friends. The pupil
became one of the leaders in his school and his coöperation was secured
from that time forward. In this instance the teacher showed marked
leadership as well as practical knowledge of psychology and pedagogy.
Francis Murphy, the great temperance orator, understood both leadership
and coöperation, for he always, as he said, made it a point to approach
a man from the "south side."

A pupil, if approached in the right way, will do anything in his power
for his teacher. There may be times when wood or fuel must be provided,
when the room must be swept and cleaned, when little repairs become
necessary, or an errand must be performed. In such situations, if the
teacher is a real leader and if his school and he are _en rapport_,
volunteers will vie with each other for the privilege of carrying out
the teacher's wishes. This would indicate genuine leadership and
coöperation.

=Placing Responsibility.=--Whether in school or some other station in
life, there is scarcely anything that so awakens and develops the best
that is in either man or child as the placing of responsibility. Every
person is educated and made greater according to the measure of
responsibility that is given to him and that he is able to live up to.
While it is true that too great a measure of responsibility might be
given, this is no reasonable excuse for withholding it altogether for
fear the burden would be too great. There is a wide middle ground
between no responsibility and too much of it, and it is in this field
that leadership and coöperation can be displayed to much advantage. The
greater danger lies in not giving sufficient responsibility to children
and youths. It is well known that, in parts of our country, where men
who have been proved to be, or are strongly suspected of being crooked,
have been placed upon the bench to mete out justice, they have usually
risen to the occasion and to their better ideals, and have not betrayed
the trust reposed in them, or the responsibility placed upon them. There
is probably no finer body of men in America than our railroad
engineers; and while it may be true that they are _picked_ in a
measure, it is also true that their responsible positions and work bring
out their best manhood. As they sit or stand at the throttle, with hand
upon the lever and eyes on the lookout for danger, and as they feel the
heart-throbs of their engine drawing its precious freight of a thousand
souls through the darkness and the storm, they cannot help realizing
that this is real life invested with great responsibilities; and with
this thought ever before them, they become men who can be trusted
anywhere. There is little doubt that Abraham Lincoln's mettle was
tempered to the finest quality in the fires of the great struggle from
1860 to 1865, when every hour of his waking days was fraught with the
greatest responsibility.

=How People Remain Children.=--If children and young people are not
given responsibilities they are likely to remain children. The old
adage, "Don't send a boy to mill," is thoroughly vicious if applied
beyond a narrow and youthful range. In some neighborhoods the fathers
even when of an advanced age retain entire control of the farm and of
all activities, and the younger generation are called the "boys," and,
what is worse, are considered such till forty years of age or older--in
fact as long as the fathers live and are active. A "boy" is called
"Johnnie," "Jimmie," or "Tommie," and is never chosen to do jury duty or
to occupy any position connected in the local public mind with a man's
work. The father in such cases is not a good leader, for he has given
no responsibility to, and receives no genuine coöperation from, his
sons, who are really man grown, but who are regarded, even by
themselves, from habit and suggestion, as children. If these middle-aged
men should move to another part of the country they would be compelled
to stand upon their own feet, and would be regarded as men among men.
They would be called _Mr._ Jones, _Mr._ Smith, and _Mr._ Brown, instead
of diminutive and pet names; and, what is better, they would regard
themselves as men. This would be a wholesome and stimulating suggestion.
Hence Horace Greeley's advice to young men, to "Go West," would prove
beneficial in more ways than one.

This state of affairs is illustrated on a large scale by the Chinese
life and civilization. From time immemorial the Chinese have been taught
to regard themselves as children, and the emperor as the common father
of all. The head of the family is the head as long as he lives and all
his descendants are mere sons and daughters. When he dies he is the
object of worship. This custom has tended to influence in a large
measure the thought and life of China and to keep the Chinese, for
untold generations, a childlike and respectful people. Whatever may come
to pass under the new regime, recently established in their country,
they have been, since the dawn of history, a passive people, the
majority of whom have not been honored with any great measure of
responsibility.

=On the Farm.=--Such lessons from history, written large, are as
applicable in rural life as elsewhere. Coöperation and profit-sharing
are probably the key to the solution of the labor problem. Many
industrial leaders in various lines, notably Mr. Henry Ford in his
automobile factories in Detroit, have come to the conclusion that
coöperation, or some kind of profit-sharing by the rank and file of the
workers, is of mutual benefit to employer and laborer. The interest of
workers must be enlisted for their own good as well as for the good of
society at large. It induces the right attitude toward work on the part
of the worker, and the right attitude of employer and employee toward
each other. This leads to the solidarity of society and the integrity of
the social bond. It tends to establish harmony and to bring contentment
to both parties.

=Renters.=--The renter of a farm must have sufficient interest in it and
in all its activities to improve it in every respect, rather than to
allow it to deteriorate by getting out of it everything possible, and
then leaving it, like a squeezed orange, to repeat the operation
elsewhere. A farm, in order to yield its best and to increase in
production and value, must be managed with care, foresight, and
scientific understanding. There must be, among other things, a careful
rotation of crops and the rearing of good breeds of animals of various
kinds. But these things cannot be intrusted to the mere renter or the
hired man who is nothing more. These are not sufficiently interested.
The man who successfully manages a farm must be interested in it and in
its various phases, whether he be a renter or a worker. He must be
careful, watchful, industrious, intelligent, and a lover of domestic
animals; otherwise the farm will go backward and the stock will not
thrive and be productive of profits. The man who drives a farm to a
successful issue must be a leader, and, if he is not the owner, he must
coöperate with the owner in order that there may be interest, which is
the great essential.

=The Owner.=--If the farm is operated by the owner himself and his
family, there is still greater need of leadership on the part of the
father and of coöperation on the part of all. Money and profits are not
the only motives or the only results and rewards that come to a family
in rural life. As the children grow up to adult life, both boys and
girls, for their own education and development in leadership and in
coöperation, should be given some share in the business, some interest
which they can call their own, and whose success and increase will
depend on their attention, care, and industry. That father is a wise
leader who can enlist the active coöperation of all his family for the
good of each and of all. Such leadership and coöperation are the best
forms and means of education, and lead inevitably to good citizenship.
How often do we see a grasping, churlish father whose leadership is
maintained by fear and force and whose family fade away, one by one, as
they come to adolescence. There is no cementing force in such a
household, and the centrifugal forces which take the place of true
leadership and cordial coöperation soon do their work.

=The Teacher as a Leader.=--We have already spoken of the teacher as the
natural leader of the activities of a social center, or of a community.
In such situations the teacher should be a real leader, not one who
wishes or attempts to be the direct and actual leader in every activity,
but one "who gets things done" through the secondary leadership of a
score or more of men, boys, and girls. The leader in a consolidated
district, or social center, who should attempt to bring all the glory
upon himself by immediate leadership would be like the teacher who
insists on doing all the reciting for his pupils. That would be a false
and short-lived leadership. Hence the teacher who is a true leader will
keep himself somewhat in the background while, at the same time, he is
the hidden mainspring, the power behind the throne. "It is the highest
art to conceal art." Fitch, in his lectures on teaching, says that the
teacher and the leader should "keep the machinery in the background."
The teacher should start things going by suggestion and keep them going
by his presence, his attitude, and his silent participation.

Too much participation and direction are fatal to the active coöperation
and secondary leadership of others. Hence the teacher will bring about,
in his own good time and way, the organization of a baseball team under
the direction of a captain chosen by the boys. The choice, it is true,
may probably be inspired by the teacher. The same would take place in
regard to every game, sport, or activity, mental, social, or physical,
in the community. The danger always is that the initial leader may
become too dominant. It is hard on flesh and blood to resist the
temptation to be lionized. But it is incomparably better to have partial
or almost total failures under self-government than to be governed by a
benevolent and beneficent autocrat. And so it is much better that boys
and girls work out their own salvation under leaders of their own
choice, than to be told to organize, and to do thus and so. It requires
a rare power of self-control in a real leader to be compelled to witness
only partial success and crude performance under secondary leaders
groping toward success, and still be silent and patient. But this is the
true process of education--self-activity and self-government.

=Self-activity and Self-government.=--In order to develop initiative,
which is the same thing, practically, as leadership, opportunity must be
given for free self-activity. Children and adults alike, if they are to
grow, must be induced to _do_. It is always better to go ahead and
blunder than to stand still for fear of blundering. Many kind mothers
fondly wish--and frequently attempt to enforce their wish--that
children should learn how to swim without going into the water.
Children see the folly of this and, in order not to disturb the calm and
peace of the household, slip away to a neighboring creek or
swimming-hole, for which they ever after retain the most cherished
memories. In later years when all danger is over these grown-up children
smilingly and jokingly reveal the mysteries of the trick! Children
cannot learn to climb trees without climbing trees, or to ride calves
and colts without the real animals. Some chances must be taken by
parents and guardians, and more chances are usually taken by children
than their guardians ever hear of. Accidents will happen, it is true,
but in the wise provision of Mother Nature the world moves on through
these persistent and instinctive self-activities.

Self-activity is manifested on a larger scale in society and among
nations and peoples. Civilization is brought about through self-activity
and coöperation. It were better for the Filipinos to civilize themselves
as much as possible than that we impose civilization upon them. It is
better that Mexico bring peace into her own household, than that we take
the leadership and enforce order among her people. When the Irish
captain said to his soldiers, "If you don't obey willingly I'll make you
obey willingly," he fused into one the military and the truly civic and
educational conceptions. An individual or a nation must energize from
within outward in order to truly express itself and thus develop in the
best sense. Hence in any community the development of self-expression,
self-activity, and coöperation under true leadership is conducive to the
highest type of individuality and of citizenship.

=Taking Laws upon One's Self.=--It is under proper leadership and
coöperation that children and young people are induced to take laws upon
themselves. It is always a joy to a parent or a teacher when a pupil
expresses himself with some emotion to the effect that such and such a
deed is an "outrage," or "fine" as the case may be. It is an indication
that he has adopted a life principle which he means to live by, and that
it has been made his own to such an extent that he expresses and commits
himself upon it with such feeling. Moralization consists in just this
process--the taking upon one's self of a bundle of good life principles.
Under the right kind of leadership and coöperation this moralizing
process grows most satisfactorily. Children then take upon themselves
laws and become self-governing and law-abiding.

=An Educational Column.=--One of the best means of creating an
atmosphere and spirit of education and culture in a community is to
conduct an "educational column" in the local newspaper. The teacher as a
real leader in the community could furnish the matter for such a column
once every two weeks or once a month, and, before long, if he is the
leader we speak of, the people will begin to look eagerly for this
column; they will turn to it first on receiving their paper. Here items
of interest on almost any subject might be discussed. The column need
not be limited narrowly to technically educational topics. The author of
such a column could thus create and build up in a community the right
kind of traditions and a good spirit, tone, and temper generally. His
influence would be potent outside the schoolroom and he would have in
his power the shaping and the guiding of the social, or community mind.
It is wonderful what can be done in this way by a prudent, intelligent,
and interesting writer. The community soon will wish, after the column
has been read through, that he had written more. This would be an
encouraging sign.

=All Along the Educational Line.=--The kind of leadership and
coöperation indicated in this chapter should be exemplified through the
entire common-school system. It should obtain between the state
superintendent and the county superintendents; between the county
superintendents and their deputies, or assistants on the one hand and
the principals of schools on the other; between principals and teachers;
and between teachers and pupils. It should exist between all of these
officials and the people variously organized for social and educational
betterment. Then there would be a "long pull, a strong pull, and a pull
all together" for the solution of the problems of rural life and the
rural school.

CHAPTER XIII

THE FARMER AND HIS HOME

=Farming in the Past.=--In the past, successful farming was easier than
it is at present or is destined to be in the future. In the prairie
regions of the great central West, the virgin and fertile soil, the
large acreage of easy cultivation, and the good prices made success
inevitable. Indeed, these conditions were thrust upon the fortunate
farmer.

But those days are passed. Increased population is reducing the acreage
and cultivation, while it is eliminating the surplus fertility;
competition and social and economic pressure are reducing the margin of
profits. Thrift, good management, and brains are becoming increasingly
important factors in successful farming.

=Old Conceit and Prejudice.=--Twenty years ago, when the agricultural
colleges were taking shape and attempting to impress their usefulness
upon the farmer, the latter was inclined to assume a derisive attitude,
and to refer to their graduates as "silk-stocking farmers"--or, as one
farmer put it, "theatrical" sort of fellows, meaning _theoretical_! In
the farming of the future, however, the agricultural college and its
influence are bound to play a large part. There is plenty of room on a
good farm of one hundred and sixty acres for the best thinking and the
most careful planning. Foresight and ingenuity of the rarest kinds are
demanded there.

We wish to enumerate, and discuss in brief, some of the important points
of vantage to be watched and carefully guarded, if farm life, which
means rural life, is to be pleasant and profitable. If rural life is to
retain its attractions and its people, it must be both of these. Let us,
in this chapter, investigate some things which, although apart from the
school and education in any technical sense, are truly educative, in the
best sense.

=Leveling Down.=--One thing that sometimes impresses the close observer
who is visiting in the country and in farm homes is that there exists in
some rural localities a kind of "leveling down" process. People become
accommodated to their rather quiet and unexciting surroundings. Their
houses and barns, in the way of repairs and improvements, are allowed
gradually to succumb to the tooth of time and the beating of the
elements. This process is so slow and insidious that those who live in
the midst of it scarcely notice the decay that is taking place. Hence it
continues to grow worse until the farm premises assume an unattractive
and dilapidated appearance. Weeds grow up around the buildings and along
the roads, so slowly, that they remain unnoticed and hence uncut--when
half an hour's work would suffice to destroy them all, to the benefit of
the farm and the improvement of its appearance.

In the country it is very easy, as we have said, to "level down." People
live in comparative isolation; imitation, comparison, and competition
enter but little into their thoughts and occupations. In the city it is
otherwise. People live in close proximity to each other, and one
enterprising person can start a neighborhood movement for the
improvement of lawns and houses. There is more conference, more
criticism and comparison, more imitation. In the city there is a kind of
compulsion to "level up."

When one moves from a large active center to a smaller one, the life
tendency is to accommodate one's self to his environment; while if one
moves from a small, quiet place to a larger and more active center, the
life tendency is to level up. It is, of course, fortunate for us that we
are able to accommodate ourselves to our environment and to derive a
growing contentment from the process. The prisoner may become so content
in his cell that he will shed tears when he is compelled to leave it for
the outer world where he must readjust himself. The college man, over
whom there came a feeling of desolation on settling down in a small
country village with one store, comes eventually to find contentment,
sitting on the counter or on a drygoods box, swapping stories with
others like himself who have leveled down to a very circumscribed life
and living. Leveling down may be accomplished without effort or thought,
but eternal vigilance is the price of leveling up.

=Premises Indicative.=--A farmer is known by the premises he keeps, just
as a person is known by the company he keeps. If a man is thrifty it
will find expression in the orderliness of his place. If he is
intelligent and inventive it will show in the appointments and
adaptations everywhere apparent, inside and outside the buildings. If
the man and his family have a fine sense of beauty and propriety, an
artistic or æsthetic sense, there will be evidences of cleanliness and
simple beauty everywhere--in the architecture, in the painting, in the
pictures, and the carpets, in the kinds and positions of the trees and
shrubbery, and in the general neatness and cleanliness of the premises.
It is not so necessary that people possess much, but it is important
that they make much of what they do possess. The exquisite touch on all
things is analogous to the flavor of our food--it is as important for
appetite and for nourishment as the food itself.

=Conveniences by Labor-saving Devices.=--If there are ingenuity and the
power of ordinary invention in common things, system and devices for
saving labor will be evident everywhere. The motor will be pressed into
service in various ways. There will be a place for everything, and
everything will be in its place. Head work and invention, rather than
mere imitation, characterize the activities of the master.

=Eggs in Several Baskets.=--The day is past when success may be attained
by raising wheat alone. This was, of course, in days gone by, the
easiest and cheapest crop to produce. It was also the crop that brought
the largest returns in the shortest time. Wheat raising was merely a
summer's job, with a prospective winter's outing in some city center. It
was and is still the lazy farmer's trick. It was an effort similar to
that of attempting the invention of a perpetual motion machine; it was
an attempt, if not to get something for nothing, at least to get
something at the lowest cost, regardless of the future. But nature
cannot be cheated, and the modern farmer has learned or is learning
rapidly, that he must rotate and diversify his crops if he would succeed
in the long run. Consequently he has begun rotation. He also replenishes
his soil with nitrogen-producing legumes, along with corn planting and
with summer fallowing. He engages in the raising of chickens, hogs,
cattle, and horses. This diversification saves him from total loss in
case of a bad year in one line. The farmer does not carry all his eggs
in one basket. A bad year with one kind of crops may be a good year with
some other. Diversification also makes farming an all-year occupation,
every part of which is bringing a good return, instead of being a job
with an income for the summer and an outlay for the winter. Live stock,
sheep, hogs, and cattle grow nights, Sundays, and winters as well as at
other times, and so the profits are accumulating all the year round.

=The Best is the Cheapest.=--The modern farmer also realizes that it
takes no more, nor indeed as much, to feed and house the best kinds of
animals than it does to keep the scrub varieties. In all of this there
is a large field for study and investigation. But one must be interested
in his animals and understand them. They should know his voice and he
should know their needs and their habits. As in every other kind of work
there must be a reasonable interest; otherwise it cannot be an
occupation which will make life happy and successful.

=Good Work.=--The good farmer has the _feel_ and the habit of good work.
The really successful man in any calling or profession is he who does
his work conscientiously and as well as he can. The sloven becomes the
bungler, and the bungler is on the high road to failure. It is always a
pleasant thing to see a man do his work well and artistically. It is the
habit, the policy, the attitude of thus doing that tell in the long run.
A farmer may by chance get a good crop by seeding on unplowed stubble
land, but he must feel that he is engaged in the business of trying to
cheat himself, like the boy playing solitaire--he does not let his right
hand know what his left hand is doing. The good farmer is an artist in
his work, while the poor farmer is a veritable bungler--blaming his
tools and Nature herself for his failures.

=Good Seed and Trees.=--The successful farmer knows from study and
experience that only healthy seed and healthy animals will produce good
grain and strong animals after their kind. He does not try tricks on
Nature. He selects the best kinds of trees and shrubbery and when these
are planted he takes care of them. He realizes that what is worth sowing
and planting is worth taking care of.

=A Good Caretaker.=--The successful and intelligent farmer keeps all his
buildings, sheds, and fences in good repair and well painted. He is not
penny-wise and pound-foolish. He knows the value of paint from an
economic and financial point of view as well as from an artistic and
æsthetic one. Knowing these things, and from an ingrained feeling and
habit, he sees to it that all his machinery and tools are under good
cover, and are not exposed to the gnawing tooth of the elements. This
habit and attitude of the man are typical and make for success as well
as for contentment. As it is not the saving of a particular dollar that
makes a man thrifty or wealthy, but the _habit_ of saving dollars; so it
is not the taking care of this or that piece of machinery, or that
particular building, but the habit of doing such things that leads him
to success.

=Family Coöperation.=--Such a man will also enlist the interest and the
active coöperation of his sons and daughters by giving them property or
interests which they can call their own; he will make them, in a
measure, co-partners with him on the farm. There could be no better way
of developing in them their best latent talents. It would result in
mutual profit and, what is better, in mutual love and happiness. One of
the greatest factors in a true education is to be interested,
self-active, and busy toward a definite and worthy end. Under such
circumstances both the parents and the children might be benefited by
taking short courses in the nearest agricultural college; and a plan of
giving each his turn could be worked out to the interest and profit of
all the family. Such a family would become local leaders in various
enterprises.

=An Ideal Life.=--It would seem that such an intelligent and successful
farmer and his family could lead an ideal life. Every life worth while
must have work, disappointments, and reverses. But work--reasonable
work--is a blessing and not a curse. Work is an educator, a civilizer, a
sanctifier.

A family like that described might in the course of a few years possess
most of the modern conveniences. The telephone, the daily mail, the
automobile, and other inventions are at hand, in the country as well as
in the city. The best literature of to-day and of all time is available.
Music and art are easily within reach. With these advantages any rural
family may have a happy home. This is more than most people in the
cities can have. More and more of our people should turn in the future
to this quiet but happy and ideal country life.

CHAPTER XIV

THE RURAL RENAISSANCE

=Darkest Before the Dawn.=--Prior to the present widespread discussion,
which it is hoped will lead to a rural renaissance, the condition and
the prospects of country life and the country school looked dark and
discouraging. Country life seemed to be passing into the shadow and the
storm. It seemed as if the country was being not only deserted but
forgotten. The urban trend, as we have seen, moved on apace. Farms were
being deserted or, if cultivated at all, were passing more and more into
the hands of renters. The owners were farming by proxy. This meant
decreased production and impoverished soil. It meant one-crop, or
small-grain farming; it meant a class of renters or tenants with only
temporary homes, and hence with only a partial interest. The inevitable
result would be an impoverished rural life and poor rural schools.
Without a realization of the seriousness of the situation and the trend
on the part of the people at large, all these conditions prevailed to a
greater or less extent. The people seemed unaware of the fact that rural
life was not keeping pace with the progress of the world around. In New
England whole districts were practically deserted, and her abandoned
farms told the tale. In Virginia and in most of the older states similar
conditions existed. The people migrated either to the cities or to the
newer and cheaper agricultural regions of the West.

=The Awakening.=--But the time came when the newer lands were not so
available and when social and economic pressure forced the whole problem
of rural life upon the attention of the nation. Difficulty in adjustment
to surroundings always constitutes a problem, and a problem always
arouses thought. When our adjustment is easy and successful it is
effected largely through habit; but when it is obstructed or thwarted,
thought and reason must come to the rescue. Investigation, comparison,
and reflection are then drafted for a solution. This is what happened a
few years ago. The whole situation, it is true, had been in mind
previously, but only in a half conscious or subconscious way. It was
being felt or sensed, more or less clearly, that there was something
wrong, that there was a great unsupplied need, in rural life; but the
thought had no definite shape. The restiveness, the restlessness, was
there but no distinct and articulate voices gave utterance to any
definite policy or determination. There was no clearly formulated
consensus of thought as to what ought to be done. Prior to this time the
thought of the people had not been focused on country life at all. The
attention of the rural districts was not on themselves; they were not
really self-conscious of their condition or that there was any important
problem before them. But not many years ago, owing to various movements,
which were both causes and effects, the whole country began to be
aroused to the importance of the subjects which I have been discussing.
The Committee of Twelve on Rural Schools appointed by the National
Educational Association had reported the phases of the rural life
problem in 1897; but many declarations and reports of that kind are
necessary to stir the whole country. Hence no decisive movement, even in
rural education, became noticeable for several years. But this report
did much good; it not only formulated educational thought and policy in
regard to the subject but it also awakened thought and discussion
outside of the teaching profession.

=The Agricultural Colleges.=--The agricultural colleges and experimental
stations in the several states had also been active for some years and
had formulated a body of knowledge in regard to agricultural principles
and methods. They had distributed this information widely among the
farmers of the country. The latter, at first, looked askance at these
colleges and their propaganda, and often refused to accept their
suggestions and advice on the ground that it was "mere theory," and that
farmers could not be taught practical agriculture by mere "book men" and
"theorizers." The practical man often despises theory, not realizing
that practice without theory is usually blind. But the growing science
of agriculture was working like a leaven for the improvement of farm
life in all its phases, and to-day the agricultural colleges and
experiment stations are the well-springs of information for practical
farmers everywhere. Bulletins of information are published and
distributed regularly, and farmers are being brought into closer and
closer touch with these institutions.

=Conventions.=--During this awakening period, conventions of various
kinds are held, which give the farmers an opportunity to hear and to
participate in discussions pertaining to the problems with which they
are wrestling. They come together in district, county, or state
conventions, and the result has been that a class consciousness, an
_esprit de corps_, is being developed. Farmers hear and see bigger and
better things; their world is enlarged and their minds are stimulated;
they are induced to think in larger units. Thought, like water, seeks
its level, and in conventions of this kind the individual "levels up."
He goes home inspired to do better and greater things, and spreads the
new gospel among his neighbors. At the conventions he hears a variety of
topics discussed, including good roads, house plans, sanitation,
schools, and others too numerous to mention.

=Other Awakening Agencies.=--The agricultural paper, which practically
every farmer takes and which every farmer should take, brings to the
farm home each week the most modern findings on all phases of country
life. The rural free delivery and the parcel post bring the daily mail
to the farmer's door. The rural telephone is becoming general, and also
the automobile and other rapid and convenient modes of communication and
transportation. All these things have helped to develop a clearer
consciousness of country life, its problems and its needs.

=The Farmer in Politics.=--Add to all the foregoing considerations the
fact that, in every state legislature and in Congress, the number of
rural representatives is constantly increasing, and we see clearly that
the country districts are awakening to a realization not only of their
needs but of their rights. All of these conditions have helped to turn
the eyes of the whole people, in state and nation, to long neglected
problems.

=The National Commission.=--So the various agencies and factors
enumerated above and others besides, all working more or less
consciously and all conspiring together, finally resulted in the
appointment of a National Commission on Rural Life, the results and
findings of which were made the subject of a special message from the
president to Congress in 1909. The report of the commission was issued
from the Government Printing Office in Washington as Document Number
705, and should be read by every farmer in the country. This commission
was the resultant of many forces exerted around family firesides, in the
schoolroom, in the press, on the platform, in conventions, in
legislatures, and in the halls of Congress. For the first time in this
country, the conditions and possibilities of rural life were made the
subjects of investigation and report to a national body. Thus the
Commission became thenceforth a potent cause of the attention and
impetus since given to the problems we are discussing.

=Mixed Farming.=--In recent years, too, what may be called "scientific
farming" has become a decided "movement" and is now very extensively
practiced. This includes diversified farming, rotation of crops, stock
raising, the breeding of improved stock, better plowing, and a host of
matters connected with the farmer's occupation. Thus farming is becoming
neither a job nor an avocation, but a genuine vocation, or profession.
It requires for its success all the brains, all the ingenuity, all the
attention and push that an intelligent man can give it; and, withal, it
promises all the variety, the interest, the happiness, and the success
that any profession can offer.

=Now Before the Country.=--The movement in behalf of a richer rural life
and of better rural schools is now before the country. It is the subject
of discussion everywhere. It is in the limelight; the literature on the
subject is voluminous; books without number, on all phases of the
subject, are coming from the press. Educational papers and magazines,
and even the lay press, are devoting unstinted space to discussions on
country life and the rural school. The country has the whole question
"on the run," with a fair prospect of an early capture. On pages 182-186
we give a bibliography of a small portion of the literature on these
questions which has come out recently.

=Educational Extension.=--Within the last few years the movement known
as "extension work," connected with the educational institutions, has
had a rapid growth. The state universities, agricultural colleges, and
normal schools in almost every state are doing their utmost to carry
instruction and education in a variety of forms to communities beyond
their walls. They are vying with each other in their extension
departments, in extra-mural service of every possible kind. In many
places institutions are even furnishing musical performances and other
forms of entertainment at cost, in competition with the private bureaus,
thus saving communities the profits of the bureau and the expense of the
middlemen. The University of Wisconsin has been in recent years the
leader in this extension work. Minnesota, and most of the central and
western states are active in the campaign of carrying education and
culture to outlying communities. Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota
have recently pooled their forces for some exchange of service in
extension work.

=Library Extension Work.=--In Wisconsin, the state library is under the
direction of the university extension department, and collections of
books, which may be retained for a definite length of time, may be
secured by any town or community in the state. In this way a library may
do excellent service.

=Some Froth.=--No doubt some froth will be produced by the stirring of
the waters which are moving in some places with whirlpool rapidity.
There is considerable sound and fury, no doubt, in the discussions and
in the things attempted in these uplifting movements. There is a
considerable amount of smoke in proportion to the fire beneath. But,
even with the froth, the noise, and the smoke, there is some latent
power, some energy, beneath and behind it all. The main thing is that
the power, the energy, the thought, the enthusiasm of the nation have
been started on the right way. We can discount and overlook the vagaries
and foibles which will undoubtedly play around the outskirts of the
movement. Every new movement shows similar phenomena. Much will be said,
written, and done which is mere surface display. But while these may do
little good, they will do no harm and are indicative of the inner and
vital determination of the people to confront the difficulties.

=Thought and Attitude.=--Our thought and our attitude make any kind of
work or any kind of position desirable and worthy, or the reverse. Many
vicious leaders poison the minds of workers and make them dissatisfied
with their work and their employers by suggesting a wrong spirit and
attitude. We do not advocate passive submission to wrongs; nor on the
other hand do we think that the interests of the laborer are to be
subserved by infusing into his mind jealousy and envy and discontent
with his lot.

A young man goes through the practice and games of football, enduring
exertion and pain which he would not allow any other person to force
upon him; at the same time, he has a song in his heart. On a camping
trip a person will submit to rigors and privations which he would think
intolerable at home. Whatever is socially fashionable is done with
pleasure; the mind is the great factor. If one is interested in his
work, it is pleasant--indeed more enjoyable than play; but if there is
no interest it is all drudgery and pain. The attitude, the motive, the
will make all the difference in the world. In the rural renaissance,
farm life may become more and more fashionable. This is by no means
impossible. Country life has no such rigors as the football field or the
outing in the wilds. When as a people we have passed from the sensuous
and erotic wave on the crest of which we seem at present to be carried
along, we can with profit, intellectually, morally, socially, and
physically, "go forth under the open sky and list to Nature's
teachings." Everything except the present glare of excitement beckons
back to the land, back to the country. Whether as a people we shall
effectively check the urban trend, will, in the not distant future, test
the self-control, the foresight, the wisdom, and the character of the
manhood and womanhood of this nation.

CHAPTER XV

A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL

=Not Pessimistic.=--Some of the early chapters of this book may have
left the impression that a restoration, or rejuvenation, of country
life, such as will reverse the urban trend and make rural life the more
attractive by comparison, is difficult if not impossible. It is
difficult we grant; but we do not wish to leave the impression that such
is improbable, much less impossible. We were simply facing the truth on
the dark, or negative, side, and were attempting to give reasons for
conditions and facts which have been everywhere apparent. If there are
two sides to a question both should be presented as they really are. It
is always as useless and as wrong to minimize as it is to exaggerate,
and we were simply accounting for facts.

We did not mean that there is no hope. The first essential in the
solution of any problem or in the improvement of any condition is to get
the condition clearly and accurately in mind--to _conceive_ it exactly
as it is.

There is no doubt that the city, with its material splendor and its
social life, has attractions; but if we turn to rural life, we shall
find, if we go below the surface of human nature, the strongest appeals
to our deeper and more abiding interests. The surface of things and the
present moment are near to us, and powerful in the way of motivation.
These, however, are the aspects of human environment which appeal most
strongly to the child, to the savage, and to the uneducated person. If
we are optimists, believing that the race is progressing, and that our
own people and country are progressing as rapidly as or more rapidly
than any other, we must believe that motives which appeal to our deeper,
saner, and more disciplined nature will win out in the long run. Let us
see, then, what some of the appeals to this saner stratum of human
nature, in behalf of rural life, are.

=Fewer Hours of Labor than Formerly.=--The hours of labor have been
reduced everywhere. In the olden time labor was done by slaves or serfs,
and neither their bodies nor their time was their own. They labored
when, where, and as long as their masters dictated. Even a generation
ago there was little said, and there was no uniformity, as to how long a
working-man should labor. In busy seasons or on important pieces of
work, he labored as long as the light of day permitted. It was from sun
to sun, and often long after the sun had disappeared from the western
horizon. Sixteen hours was no uncommon day for him. Under such
conditions there was no room for mental, social, or spiritual
advancement. Later, the hours were reduced to a maximum of fourteen.
This proved to be so satisfactory that laws were passed providing for a
further decrease in hours. This standardizing of the day of labor, while
not general in the country, had its effect. The twelve-hour day, while
still long, was a decided betterment over the sixteen-hour day. There
was beginning to be a little possible margin for social, mental, and
recreational activity. But the twelve-hour day must inevitably get the
better of the human system and of the spirit of man. It is too long and
too steady a grind, and habit and long hours soon tell their story. They
inevitably lead to the condition of the "man with the hoe."

As improvements in machinery were perfected and inventions of all kinds
multiplied and spread both in the factory and on the farm, the ten-hour
day was ushered in. It was inevitable in this age of inventions and
improvements. Capital had these inventions and improvements in its
possession and a laboring man could now do twice as much with the same
labor as formerly. But society as a whole could not assent to the theory
and the practice that the capitalist, the owner of the machines, should
reap all the advantages; and so, while the hours were still further
reduced, the wages were increased, thus more nearly equalizing the
benefits accruing to employer and employed. With the aid of inventions
the worker, on the average, can do more in the short day of eight or
ten hours than he did formerly in the sixteen-hour day. It is not
contended, however, that every laborer actually does this. This phase of
the question is a large factor in the labor problem. But from the point
of view of the average man and of society, labor with the aid of
machinery can produce probably twice as much as it produced formerly
without that aid. This fact has had great influence upon industrial life
everywhere, and makes for increased opportunities and growth.

=The Mental Factor Growing.=--The trend alluded to above implies that
the mental factor is growing larger and larger in occupations of all
kinds. Success is becoming more and more dependent on knowledge,
ingenuity, prudence, and foresight. Especially is this true on the farm.
There is scarcely any calling that demands or can make use of such
varied talents. All fields of knowledge may be drawn upon and utilized,
from the weather signals to the most recent findings and conclusions of
science and philosophy. As the hours of labor both in the factory and on
the farm are shortened still more--as is possible--the hours of study,
of play, and of social converse will be lengthened. Indeed this is one
of the by-problems of civilization and progress--to see that leisure
hours are profitably spent for the welfare of the individual. In any
event, the prospect of reasonable hours and of social and cultural
opportunities in rural life is growing from day to day. The intelligent
man with modern machinery and ordinary capital, if he has made some
scientific study of agriculture, need have no fear of not living a
successful and happy life on the farm. A knowledge of his calling in all
its aspects, with the aid of modern machinery, and with sobriety,
thrift, and industry, will bring a kind of life to both adults and
children that the crowded factory and tenements and the tinsel show of
the city cannot give. But one must be willing to forego the social and
physical display of the surface of things and to choose the better and
more substantial part. If we are a people that can do this there is hope
for an early and satisfactory solution of the problems of rural life.

=The Bright Side of Old-time Country Life.=--Even in the country life of
twenty-five to fifty years ago, there was a bright and happy side. It
was not all dark, and, in its influence for training the youth to a
strong manhood, we shall probably not look upon its like again. If
strength and welfare rather than pleasure are the chief end of life,
many of the experiences which were undoubtedly hardships were blessings
in disguise. Every boy had his chores and every girl her household
duties to perform. The cows had to be brought home in the evening from
the prairie or the woods; they had to be milked and cared for; calves
and hogs had to be fed; horses had to be cared for both evening and
morning; barns, stables, and sheds had to be looked after. All the
animals of the farm, including the domestic fowls, such as chickens,
ducks, and turkeys, became our friends and each was individually known.

Though all the duties of farm life had to be done honestly and well,
nevertheless the farmer's boy found time to go fishing and hunting,
skating, coasting, and trapping. He learned the ways and the habits of
beasts, birds, and fish. He observed the squirrels garnering their
winter supply in the fall. He watched the shrewd pocket gopher as it
came up and deposited the contents of its cheek pockets upon the pile of
fresh dirt beside his hole. He learned how to trap the muskrat, and woe
to the raccoon that was discovered stealing the corn, for it was tracked
and treed even at midnight. The boy's eyes occasionally caught sight of
a red fox or of a deer; and the call of the dove, the drum of the
pheasant, the welcome "whip-poor-will" and the "to-whit, to-whit,
to-who" of the owl were familiar sounds. He ranged the prairie and the
woods; he climbed trees for nuts and for distant views, and knew every
hill, valley, and stream for miles and miles around. Even his daily and
regular work was of a large and varied kind. It was not like the making
of one tenth of a pin, which has a strong tendency to reduce the worker
to one tenth of a man.

On the farm one usually begins and finishes a piece of work whether it
be a hay-rack or a barn; he sees it through--the whole of it receives
expression in him. It is _his_ piece of work and it faces him as he has
to face it. The tendency is for both to be "honest." If there were so
much brightness and variety in days gone by, when all work was done by
hand, how much better the situation can be now and in the future, when
inventions and machines have come to the rescue of the laborer, and when
the hours of toil have been so materially shortened!

=The Larger Environment.=--There is no doubt that a large and varied
environment is conducive to the growth of a strong and active
personality. If one has to adjust himself at every turn to something
new, it will lead to self-activity and initiative, to ingenuity and
aggressiveness. If tadpoles are reared in jars of different sizes, the
growth and size of each will vary with the size of the vessel, the
smallest jar growing the smallest tadpole, and the largest jar the
largest tadpole. It is fighting against the laws of fate to attempt to
rear strong personalities in a "flat" or even in a fifty-foot lot. They
need the range of the prairies, the hills, and the woods. Shakespeare
was born and brought up in one of the richest and most stimulating
environments, natural and social, in the world; and this, no doubt, had
much to do with his matchless ability to express himself on all phases
of nature and of mind. Large and varied influences, while they do not
compel, at least _tend_ to produce, large minds; for they leave with us
infinite impressions and induce correspondingly varied reactions and
experiences. Under such conditions a child is reacting continually and
thus becoming active and efficient. He is challenged at every turn, and
if stumbling blocks become stepping stones, the process is the very best
kind of education.

=Games.=--There are excellent opportunities in the country for all kinds
of games, for there ample room and many incentives to activity present
themselves. In the city, children are often content with seeing experts
and professionals give performances or "stunts," while they, themselves,
remain passive. In the country there are not so many attractions and
distractions--so many dazzling and overwhelmingly "superior"
things--that children may not be easily induced to "get into the game"
themselves. I fear that in recent years owing to imitation of the city
and its life, play and games in the country have become somewhat
obsolete. There needs to be a renaissance in this field. We have been
offered everywhere in recent years so much of what might be called the
"finished product" that the children are content merely to sit around as
spectators and watch others give the performances.

As in the case of the rural school the play instincts of country
children must be awakened again in behalf of rural life in general.
There are scores of games and sports, from marbles to football, which
should receive attention. In recent years the social mind, in all
sports, seems to be directed to the _result_, the winning or losing,
instead of to the game, as a game, and the fun of it all. True
sportsmanship should be revived and cultivated. There is no reason why
there should not be found in every neighborhood, and especially at every
school center, all kinds of plays and games, each in its own time and
place and having its own patronage--marbles, tops, swings, horseshoes,
"I spy," anti-over, pull-away, prisoner's base, tennis, croquet, volley
ball, basketball, skating, coasting, skiing, baseball, and football.
Horizontal bars, turning pole, and other apparatus should be provided in
every playground. In the social centers, if the boys can be organized as
Boy Scouts, and the girls as Camp-Fire Girls, good results will ensue.

Many more plays and games will suggest themselves, and those for girls
should be encouraged as well as those for boys. All the aspects of rural
life can thus be made most enjoyable. It is often well to introduce and
cultivate one game at a time, letting it run its course, something like
a fever, and then, at the psychological moment, introduce and try out
another. To introduce too many at one time would not afford an
opportunity for children to experience the rise and fall of a wave of
enthusiasm on any one, and this is quite important. Usually some
direction should be given to play, but this direction should not be
suppressive, and should be given by a leader who understands and
sympathizes with child nature.

=Inventiveness in Rural Life.=--In the city, where everything is
manufactured or sold ready-made, a person simply goes to the store and
buys whatever he needs. In the country this cannot be done, and one is
driven by sheer necessity to devise ways and means of supplying his
needs, himself. He simply has to invent or devise a remedy. Necessity is
the mother of invention.

It is really better for boys and girls in the country if their parents
are compelled to be frugal and economical. If children get anything and
everything they wish, merely for the asking, they are undone; they
become weak for lack of self-exertion, self-expression, and invention;
they become dissatisfied if everything is not coming their way from
others. They become selfish and careless. Having tasted of the best,
merely for the asking, they become dissatisfied with everything except
the best. This is the dominant tendency in the city and wherever parents
are foolish enough to satisfy the child's every whim. If the parents
carry the child in this manner, the child, in later years, will have
weak legs and the parents will have weak backs. Moreover, love and
respect move in the direction of activity, and if everything comes the
child's way there will be little love, except "cupboard love," going the
other way.

It is unfortunate for children to experience the best too early in life;
there is then no room for growth and development. It was Professor James
who said that the best doll he ever saw was a home-made rag doll; it
left sufficient room for the play of the imagination. With the perfect,
factory-made doll there is nothing more for the imagination to do; it is
complete, but it is not the little girl who has completed it. In the
country, men and women, boys and girls are induced to begin and complete
all kinds of things. Many things have to be made outright and most
things have to be repaired on the farm. Challenges of this kind to
inventiveness and activity are outstanding all the time. Sleds, both
large and small, wheelbarrows and hay racks, sheds, granaries, and barns
are both made and repaired. But in all there is no mad rush. It is not
as it is in the factory or in the sawmill. One is not reduced to the
instantaneous reactions of an automaton; he has time to breathe and to
think. One can act like a free man rather than like a machine. There is
room for thought and for invention.

=Activity Rather than Passivity.=--In this infinite variety of
stimulation and response, the youth is induced to become active rather
than passive. While he is not pushed unduly, he is reasonably active
during all his waking hours, and the habit of activity, of doing, is
ingrained. This is closely related to character and morality, to thrift
and success. Such a person is more likely to be a creditor than a debtor
to society. In this respect the country and the farm have been the
salvation of many a youth.

In the city many children have no regular employment; they have no
chores to do and no regular occupation. Evenings and vacations find
them on the streets. Then Satan always finds mischief for idle hands to
do. These children become passive except under the impulses of instinct
or of mischievous ideas; they have no regular and systematic work to do;
everything is done for them. During their early years habits of
idleness, of passive receptivity, of mischief, and possibly of crime,
are ingrained. And though this kind of life may be more _pleasurable_,
in a low sense, than the active life of the country, there can be no
doubt as to which is the more wholesome and strengthening.

=Child Labor.=--A good child-labor law is absolutely essential to the
welfare of the children for whom it has been enacted; nevertheless,
there has been a great omission in not providing that idle children
shall do some work. Even in large cities there are probably more
children who do not work enough than there are who are made to work too
hard. In our zeal we sometimes forbid children to work, when some work
would be the very best thing for them. It is true that on the farm as