ex and more remote. On that principle the rural school
should make use of local geography, of rural material in arithmetic,
of literature and music with a rural flavor, of nature study with
drawings from nature. The opposite has been the case, with the result
that the child appreciates neither his surroundings nor his
opportunities, but looks upon them as something to be avoided for the
more important urban life, with whose activities he has become
familiar through his daily tasks.

A second weakness is that rural education omits so much of importance
to the child who must make his living in the country. To discuss rural
conditions in a natural and systematic way, beginning with the family
and working out into the social life of the community; to study the
economic side of life first on the farm and then in the neighborhood,
getting hold of the underlying principles of agriculture, becoming
familiar with the action of various soils and crops and the best
methods of cultivation and protection from harm, to prepare by a few
simple lessons in household science for the responsibility of the
home, is to provide the bases of success and happiness for the boys
and girls of the country. Rural education, therefore, needs
redirection.

130. =The Quality of Teaching.=--The child in the country has a right
to as good instruction as the city child, but because of the poverty
and penuriousness of school districts and the maintenance of too many
small schools, rural communities pay small salaries and cannot command
good teaching. There are thousands of schools scattered over the
country with less than ten pupils in attendance, housed in cheap,
unattractive buildings, with teachers who have had no normal-school
training, and who have no enthusiasm for the work they have to do.
They may hear twenty or more classes recite on numerous subjects in
the course of a day, but there is no stimulus to teacher or pupil, and
school hours provide little more than a conventional method for
passing the time. In such communities as these there is rarely any
efficient superintendence of teaching by a paid supervisor, and the
school board is unqualified to judge on any other basis than the cost
of schooling for a limited number of weeks.

The small district school has the effect of strengthening the
isolation that is the bane of the country regions. It continues to
exist because every farmer wants the school near by for the
convenience of his own fa