organization and administration, can extend the scope of its curriculum
to make it the equal of that offered in the grades of the town or city
school. Radical changes, such as those discussed in the preceding
chapter, will have to be made in the rural district system before this
is possible. That these changes are being made and the full elementary
and high school course offered in many consolidated rural schools,
scattered from Florida to Idaho, is proof both of the feasibility of the
plan and of an awakened public demand for better rural education.

The broadened curriculum of the rural school must contain subject-matter
especially related to the interests and activities of the farm; upon
this all are agreed. But it must not stop with vocational subjects
alone. For, while one's vocation is fundamental, it is not all of life.
Education should help directly in making a living; it must also help to
live. Broad and permanent lines of interest must be set up and trained
to include many forms of experience. The child must come to know
something of the great social institutions of his day and of the history
leading to their development. He must become familiar with the marvelous
scientific discoveries and inventions underlying our modern
civilization. He must be led to feel appreciation for the beautiful in
art, literature, and music; and must have nurtured in his life a love
for goodness and truth in every form. In short, through the curriculum
the latent powers constituting the life capital of every normal child
are to be stimulated and developed to the end that his life shall be
more than mere physical existence--to the end that it shall be crowned
with fullness of knowledge, richness of feeling, and the victory of
worthy achievement. This is the right of every child in these prosperous
and enlightened times,--the right of the country child as well as the
city child. And society will not have done its duty in providing for the
education of its youth until the children of the farm have full
opportunities for such development.

_The rural elementary school curriculum_

By the elementary school is meant the eight grades of work below the
high school which the rural school is now meant to cover.

Whatever is put into the curriculum of a nation's schools finally
becomes a part of national character and achievement. What the children
study in school comes to determine their attitudes and shape their
aptitudes. The old Gree