II Making Bricks with Straw
Even the doughtiest son of the soil must needs admit that the farmer of the past, living secluded in his house or village, was provincial, narrow, bigoted and individualistic. Times are rapidly changing, however, and out of the old desolation of rural individualism there is arising the spirit of wholesome, virile co-operation, which has transformed the face of many a country district almost in the twinkling of an eye. Nowhere is this co-operative spirit better expressed than in the consolidated country schools, which are organized, like the city school, by subjects and grades.
Considered from any viewpoint, the consolidated school is superior, as a form of organization, to the district school. Rather, the consolidated school permits organization, and the district school does not. Wherever it has been tried the testimony in favor of consolidation is overwhelming.
“Comparison,” cried one county superintendent in consternation. “Comparison! There is no comparison. The old one-room school, like the one-horse plough, has seen its day. The farmers in this country, after figuring it out, have reached the conclusion that the one-room school is in the same class with a lot of other old-fashioned machinery—good in its day, but not good enough for them. That is why over eighty per cent of our schools have been consolidated. You see it’s this way: The farmers need labor badly, and rather than see their sons go to a school where they are called on once or twice a day by a sadly overworked teacher they would put them to work on the farm. The consolidated school wins them with its good course of study and the boys stay in school.”
That is the first, and perhaps the most vital, advantage of the consolidated school—it permits the enlargement of the course of study. Sewing, cooking, agriculture, manual training, drawing and music, have all been introduced, because the teachers have time for them. High school work has been added, too. The consolidated school, in so far as the course of study is concerned, is very nearly on a par with the graded school of the city.
Have you ever attended a one-room country school? If you have not you can form but the faintest idea of what it means to the teacher. Her day is so split up with little periods of class work that she can never do anything thoroughly. Here, for example, is an average schedule of work for a one-room class in Indiana:
Daily Program
FORENOON
| Time | Class | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| 8:30 | Opening Exercises | All |
| 8:40 | Reading | Primary |
| 8:45 | Reading | First |
| 8:50 | Reading | Second |
| 8:55 | Reading | Third |
| 9:00 | Reading | Sixth |
| 9:10 | Grammar | Fourth |
| 9:20 | Grammar | Fifth |
| 9:30 | Grammar | Sixth |
| 9:40 | Grammar | Seventh |
| 9:50 | Grammar | Eighth |
| 10:00 | Reading | Fourth |
| 10:10 | Reading | Seventh |
| 10:20 | Recess | All |
| 10:30 | Reading | Primary |
| 10:40 | Reading | First |
| 10:50 | Numbers | Second |
| 11:00 | Numbers | Third |
| 11:05 | Arithmetic | Fourth |
| 11:15 | Arithmetic | Fifth |
| 11:25 | Arithmetic | Seventh |
| 11:35 | Arithmetic | Eighth |
| 11:50 | Reading | Fifth |
| Noon | Noon | All |
Appalling, do you say? What other word describes it adequately? There are twenty-one teaching periods in the morning; twenty-four in the afternoon. Forty-five times each day that teacher must call up and teach a new class. The college professor is “overloaded” with fourteen classes a week. This woman had two hundred and twenty-five. Will any one be so absurd as to suppose that she can do them or herself justice?