The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 25, 1916, Page 7

Nt Pt -¢h061 Problem ~1in North Dakota By N. C. Macdonald State Inspector of Rural, Graded and Consolidated School * (Mr Macdonald was recently elected president of the National Association of State Inspectors and Supervisors of Rural and Consolidated Schools. He is a candi- not until the last few years has any ggte for State Superintendent of Public Imstruction and has received the indorse- perious attempt been made to amalyze ment of the Farmers’ Nonpartisan League.—Editor.) &Lhagncn!mrdmtesthem est problem in education js how to securs’ and maintain ‘an system of rural schools. This & e in North Dakotsa today and has been since the first days of statehood. pnd to solve the problem. In its early Ty the movement consisted largely: : hti:flk and yet more talk, which for the fhost part was mere buncombe. The best friends of better rural schools pow realize that there is a problem to ve -and that it is the greatest educa~ ional problem now = pressing for polution. These people have adopted as- their slogan: “The Greatest Need in Edu~ gation Today Is Better Rural Schools.” $his means, among other things, that the child of the farmer is entitled to just good schools as is the child of banker., This movement has been Pn, in its largest and most effective form, for the past four ‘years, and some pubstantial progress has - been made. In its inception it was gonceded that the six preatest needs to be sup- plied in order to secure these better rural schools were the fol- Jowing: ‘Better teachers, better attend- mnce, better school work 'in the grades, better high school “privileges, bétter organization, and better civie-social ppportunities, and the greatest and most Important of these was better teache~ COUNTRY SCHOOL IS YWENTY YEARS BEHINI Briefly, the one-room rural school in these essential requirements for effic- fency is even now at least twenty years behind the city - school. For instance, fast year less than 10 per cent of the one-room rural teachers had completed ps much as a standard normal school tourse, while more than 85 per cent of’ the city school teachers were normal gchool or college graduates; the per cent of attendance in these rural schools was less than 65, while the per cent of at- fendance in the city schools wes more than 90; less than 25 -per cent of the farm children completed the eighth grade, while more than 75 per cent of the city children did so; and less than 10 per cent of the farm children of high gchool age were enrolled in high schools, while more than 60 per cent of the city children were enrolled. We are not complaining that the city children enjoy these better school facilities, we would: be glad to see them gtill better, but we do contend that the farm children are entitled to just as good school facilities. In the beginning it was agreed, and is" now generally conceded, that the great- pst single factor in producing an -effic- “ fent rural school system, through -the supplying of these six major needs, is gonsolidation of all one-room rural schools where feasxble, .and that- the next greatest factor is the sténdardiza- tion of the one-room rural schools—the grading up of these schools to meet _ modern standards—this to be done mainly through the medium of securing well-trained teachers. It ~was .realized, of course, that: to hasten” and to extend the standardiza- tion and the .consolidation of rural” “schools more money was-needed in the “form of = state aid grant, as well as a well organized “educational campaign in special charge of some competent person. Thus five years ago our legxslature :passed a law providing for a small ap- - propriation and a.special “officer, to be . known 'as' the state inspector of rural, graded and consolidated schools, to have. : flnsmtberofmalschoolbettermentm L The Eden Valley open country consolidated school in Renville county. When this view was taken three teachers were employed and there were 81 enrolled, of which number 17 were doing high school work. It is one of the state classified con- solidated schools, specia.l charge,- lns powers at the next session having been greatly increased. FARM CHILDREN STILL SLIGHTED IN EDUCATION Last year, despite the fact that there was a legislature bent on economizing in every department of governmental activity, the appropriation for the rural schools, as represented by the one-room, the graded consolidated and the graded schools, was . increased to make an amount four times the original sum of four years before, the major portion going to consolidated schools. This shows that this movement has firmly established itself in the minds of the representative men of the state as a good thing. However, it must be admit- \ . tricts wherein the school boards cannot levy a dollar against the railroad prop- erty, although the people of those dis- tricts must help contribute to the support of the railroads and at a greater sacri- fice than do those through whose dis- tricts the railroads run. In many of these districts the people must be content with poor schools while they must help support good schools in- other commun- ities, 3 There is neither justice nor equity in this.” It is true that they get a small sum through sharing in the two mill county tax, but they should get at least five hundred thousand ($500,000) more per year than they are now getting. Fair-minded people in the towns and A state classified one-room rural school in Dunn county. ted here that rural schools as descnbed above are not yet getting their fa.u- share of the state aid.. ‘If the city schools are fau‘ly entxtled‘ to. their eighty-five thousand . dollars ($85,000) per year, and ¥ think they _are, -then_these : other schools) should get a - much. larger share, instead of the sixty _thousand ‘dollars ($60;000) that ‘they are - now getting. ; ‘Besides this the ralhud taxes are not now. fairly distributed. For we have ‘some twetve lmndred (1200) rural dis- other districts - with properly object to this. It cannot in any . 'way’ cripple them, though hundreds .of “the districts having no railroads are now seriously crippled. What is right will 'harm 1o ‘one: " ‘STATE AT LAST WAKENs . 'TommAL SCHOOL NEEDS The results of the state aid grant and . the educational campaign for better rural schools have been greater than the best fnends of the movement ever dreamed PAGE SEVEN railroads cannot - that they could be. The most effectiye of the two, however, has been the educsb tional campaign; for it has given and force to the whole movement, T campaign, chiefly under the leadership of the office that I have the honor to hold, has been carried on by many per- sons amd several organizations mainly through publicity in the press, on the platform, and by correspondence. This office alone has prepared and distributed some 75,000 pieces of printed and writ- ten matter, has taken part in some 400 meetings, and has made over 800 visits of inspection, for the purpose of pro- moting the standardization and the com- ! . solidation of rural schools. In the case of the one-room rural schools over 500 have been classified or standardized at different times, and more :; than twice as many have been stimulated ; to improve their conditions. There are . 4] at least double the nume ber of high school and of teaching in these schoola that there were four . years ago. Then they are introduction of “element- ary agriculture on a scale . not otherwise possible, the increase in the cent of attendance and the lengthemng : of the term. All this is highly gratifying to all interested in elevating the future cl.tlzeu- ship of our commonwealth. But it is in the field of consolidation that the great est and most substantxal progress has been made. . GREATEST—PRGGRESS MADE . IN CONSOLIDATING SCHOOLS There has been an increase of over 20% consolidated schools during the past four - years, this being much the greatest imy - crease in the hxstory of the state. Thig . means an average increase of over b0 per year as against an increase of less . - than six per year when there was no state aid and when there was no specxal campmg'n to further their growth, There are now 338 consolidated sehoola in operation, and all counties are Teps resented but one. In these are enrolled . over 21,000 farm boys ‘and girls ag - against 6,000 four years ago. Of number over 2000 are doing high sch work, which includes courses in the household and the agricultural sciences, A careful investigation shows that of this number of high school pupils nof more than 200 would have gone to high school had not the consolidated school brought it to them. ‘Who_can measure the industrial iency and the civic righteousness that ~ j will come to the state by reason of haw ing the lives of these woung peopm enriched and ennobled in a way not poge - sible in the one-room rural school? 3 From- personal knowledge I can cite | scores of instances where there.will be " 5 found from one to three in a family doi ! high ‘school work in these consohdaxffi schools, and who otherwise could never ' hope to do so. o) A farmer-parent will sometimes find 1€ ) hard to pay the nine or ten dollars extrg - tax in order to have the consolidated school in his community, but he would find it impossible to provide the $15( extra required: per-year to send his bo away to the city high school. And in the. former case the boy is at- home where he ought to be during the periloug years of adolescent boyhood, Then hére again there have been othex -benefits such as: the better school worli in the grades, as is shown by the f: '.that these schools treble the number . eighth grade graduates; the increase i attendance of = 26, per cent; ° better civic-social opportunities for the young as well as the old; the better normal school graduates other benefits, such as the . ’