A number of concrete contrasts will perhaps serve to give the reader who is likely to be familiar only with modern school equipment some idea of the long road that has been traveled in the evolution of the American school system.
Fig. 7. Floor plan of a well-arranged one-teacher
rural school of minimum cost
A ground plan furnished by a bulletin of the Bureau of Education[28] shows (Fig. 6) the old-fashioned one-room school with its small windows and inadequate heating. The light from these windows is badly distributed. The wide wall spaces between windows leave long dark spaces across the room. The fact that there are windows on many sides makes it necessary for someone to face glaring lights on bright days and results in all sorts of cross lights and shadows. The other features of the plan, including the stove, were commented on in an earlier paragraph.
A second ground plan (Fig. 7) shows a well-arranged, simple rural school. The light comes from one side of the room. There is provision for many different activities, and a system of ventilating and heating has been substituted for the stove of former days. The stove is inclosed in a jacket. Into this jacket opens an intake which brings fresh air from outside. A pipe carries the heated air to various parts of the room, insuring its adequate distribution.
The externals of the situation are depicted in Fig. 8.
Fig. 8. An old and a new rural school
Contrasts in Urban Elementary Schools
The evolution is even more impressive when it appears in the many-roomed schoolhouses of a city system. The following paragraphs and figures from the Cleveland survey show how complete has been the transformation of a half century: