New Ideals in Rural Schools

The county superintendency is throughout the country almost universally a political office. In some States, as, for example, in Indiana, it is appointive by a non-partisan board. But, in general, the candidate of the prevailing party, or the one who is the best "mixer," secures the office regardless of qualifications. Sharing the fortunes of other political offices, the county superintendency frequently has applied to it the unwritten party rule of "two terms and out," thus crippling the efficiency of the office by frequent changes of administration and uncertainty of tenure.

No fixed educational or professional standard of preparation for the county superintendency exists in the different States. If some reasonably high standard were required, it would do much to lessen the mischievous effects of making it a political office. In a large proportion of cases the county superintendent is only required to hold a middle-class certificate, and has enjoyed no better educational facilities than dozens of the teachers he is to supervise. The author has conducted teachers' institutes in the Middle West for county superintendents who had never attended an institute or taught a term of school. The salary and professional opportunities of the office are not sufficiently attractive to draw men from the better school positions; hence the great majority of county superintendents come from the village principalships, the grades of town schools, or even from the rural schools.

A marked tendency of recent years has been to elect women as county superintendents. In Iowa, for example, half of the present county superintendents are women, and the proportion is increasing. In not a few instances women have made exceptional records as county superintendents, and, as a whole, are loyally devoted to their work. They suffer one disadvantage in this office, however, which is hard to overcome: they find it impossible, without undue exposure, to travel about the county during the cold and stormy weather of winter or when the roads are soaked with the spring rains. Whether they will be able to effect the desired coördination between the rural school and the agricultural interests of the community is a question yet to be settled.

In spite of the limitations of the office of county superintendent, however, it must not be thought that this office has played an unimportant part in our educational development. It has exerted a marked influence in the upbuilding of our schools, and accomplished this under the most unfavorable and discouraging circumstances. Among its occupants have been some of the most able and efficient men and women engaged in our school system. But the time has come in our educational advancement when the rural schools should have better supervision than they are now getting or can get under the present system.

The first step in improving the supervision, as in improving so many other features of the rural schools, is the reorganization of the system through consolidation, and the consequent reduction in the number of schools to be supervised. The next step is to remove the supervising office as far as possible from "practical" politics by making it appointive by a non-partisan county board, who will be at liberty to go anywhere for a superintendent, who will be glad to pay a good salary, and who will seek to retain a superintendent in office as long as he is rendering acceptable service to the county. The third step is to raise the standard of fitness for the office so that the incumbent may be a true intellectual leader among the teachers and people of his county. Nor can this preparation be of the scholastic type alone, but must be of such character as to adapt its possessor to the spirit and ideals of an agricultural people.

A wholly efficient system of supervision of rural teaching, then, would be possible only in a system of consolidated schools, each under the immediate direction of a principal, himself thoroughly educated and especially qualified to carry on the work of a school adapted to rural needs. Over these schools would be the supervision of the county superintendent, who will stand in the same relation to the principals as that of the city superintendent to his ward or high school principals. The county superintendent will serve to unify and correlate the work of the different consolidated schools, and to relate all to the life and work of the farm.

If it is said that systems of superintendence for rural schools could be devised more effective than the county superintendency, this may be granted as a matter of theory; but as a practical working program, there is no doubt that the office of county superintendent is a permanent part of our rural school system, unless the system itself is very radically changed. All the States, except the New England group, Ohio, and Nevada, now have the office of county superintendent. It is likely, therefore, that the plan of district superintendence permissive under the laws of certain States will hardly secure wide acceptance. The county as the unit of school administration is growing in favor, and will probably ultimately come to characterize the rural school system. The most natural step lying next ahead would, therefore, seem to be to make the conditions surrounding the office of county superintendent as favorable as possible, and then give the superintendent a sufficient number of deputies to make the supervision effective. These deputies should be selected, of course, with reference to their fitness for supervising particular lines of teaching, such as primary, home economics, agriculture, etc. A beginning has already been made in the latter line by the employment in some counties, with the aid of the Federal Government, of an agricultural expert who not only instructs the farmers in their fields, but also correlates his work with the rural schools. This principle is capable of almost indefinite extension in our school system.

OUTLINE

I. THE RURAL SCHOOL AND ITS PROBLEM

The General Problem of the Rural School

1. The general problem of the rural school identical with that of all schools1 (#x1_pgepubid00013)

2. The newer concept measures education by efficiency2 (#x1_x_1_i54)

3. This efficiency involves (1) knowledge,(2) attitude, (3) technique, or skill3 (#x1_x_1_i55)

4. The purpose of the school is to make sure of these factors of efficiency4 (#x1_x_1_i57)

The Special Problem of the Rural School

1. Each type of school has its special problem5 (#x1_x_1_i59)

2. The rural school problem originates in the nature of the rural community5 (#x1_x_1_i59)

3. Characteristics of the rural community6 (#x1_x_1_i62)

4. Its industrial homogeneity6 (#x1_x_1_i62)

5. Its social homogeneity7 (#x1_x_1_i64)

6. Fundamental intelligence of the rural population8 (#x1_x_1_i67)

7. Economic status and standards of living10 (#x1_x_1_i70)

8. Rural isolation and its social effects10 (#x1_x_1_i70)

9. Rural life and physical efficiency11 (#x1_x_1_i72)

10. Lack of recreations and amusement12 (#x1_x_1_i73)

11. Recent tendencies toward progress in agricultural pursuits12 (#x1_x_1_i73)

12. The loss of rural population to the cities13 (#x1_x_1_i75)

The Adjustment of the Rural School to its Problem

1. Failure in adjustment of the rural school to its problem17 (#x1_x_1_i82)

2. The rudimentary education received by rural children17 (#x1_x_1_i82)

3. Failure of the rural school to participate in recent educational progress18 (#x1_x_1_i86)

4. The rural school inadequate in its scope19 (#x1_x_1_i88)

5. Need of better organization in the rural school20 (#x1_x_1_i89)

6. Inadequacy of rural school buildings and equipment21 (#x1_x_1_i90)

7. The financial support of the rural school22 (#x1_x_1_i91)

8. Summary and suggestions23 (#x1_x_1_i93)

II. THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE RURAL SCHOOL

The Rural School and the Community

1. The fundamental relations of school and community25 (#x1_pgepubid00017)

2. Low community standards of education25 (#x1_pgepubid00017)

3. The rural community's need of a social center26 (#x1_x_1_i102)

4. Its social isolation a serious drawback27 (#x1_x_1_i104)

5. Grave moral dangers arising from social isolation28 (#x1_x_1_i106)

6. Rural environment more dangerous to youth than city environment29 (#x1_x_1_i107)

7. Effects of monotony on adults30 (#x1_x_1_i109)

8. The rural school as a social center30 (#x1_x_1_i109)

9. The ideal rural school building and equipment32 (#x1_x_1_i113)

10. Social activities centering in the school33 (#x1_x_1_i115)

11. Reorganization needed to make the rural school effective as a social and intellectual center34 (#x1_x_1_i116)

The Consolidation of Rural Schools