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RURAL LIFE
AND THE RURAL SCHOOL
BY
JOSEPH KENNEDY
DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO
RURAL LIFE AND THE RURAL SCHOOL
W. P. 2.
PREFACE
This volume is addressed to the men and women who have at heart the
interests of rural life and the rural school. I have tried to avoid
deeply speculative theories on the one hand, and distressingly practical
details on the other; and have addressed myself chiefly to the
intelligent individual everywhere--to the farmer and his wife, to the
teachers of rural schools, to the public spirited school boards,
individually and collectively, and to the leaders of rural communities
and of social centers generally. I have tried to avoid the two extremes
which Guizot says are always to be shunned, viz.: that of the "visionary
theorist" and that of the "libertine practician." The former is
analogous to a blank cartridge, and the latter to the mire of a swamp or
the entangled underbrush of a thicket. The legs of one's theories (as
Lincoln said of those of a man) should be long enough to reach the
earth; and yet they must be free to move upon the solid ground of fact
and experience. Details must always be left to the _person_ who is to do
the work, whether it be that of the teacher, of the farmer, or of the
school officer.
I am aware that there is a veritable flood of books on this and kindred
topics, now coming from the presses of the country. My sole reasons for
the publication of the present volume are the desire to deliver the
message which has come to fruition in my mind, and the hope that it may
reach and interest some who have not been benefited by a better and more
systematic treatise on this subject.
By way of credential and justification, I would say that the message of
the book has in large measure grown out of my own life and thought; for
I was born and brought up in the country, there I received my elementary
education, and there I remained till man grown. Practically every kind
of work known on the farm was familiar to me, and I have also taught and
supervised rural schools. These experiences are regarded as of the
highest value, and I revert in memory to them with a satisfaction and
affection which words cannot express.
If there should seem to be a note of despair in some of the earlier
chapters as to the desired outcome of the problems of rural life and the
rural school, it is not intended that such impression shall be complete
and final. An attempt is made simply to place the problem and the facts
in their true light before the reader. There has been much "palavering"
on this subject, as there has been much enforced screaming of the eagle
in many of our Fourth of July "orations." I feel that the first
requisite is to conceive the problems clearly and in all seriousness.
If these problems are to be solved, true conceptions of _values_ must be
established in the social mind. Many present conceptions, like those of
the _personality_ of the teacher, _standards_ for teaching,
_supervision_, school _equipment_, _salary_, etc., must first be
_dis_-established, and then higher and better ones substituted. There
will have to be a genuine and intelligent "tackling" of the problems,
and not, as has been the case too often, a mere playing with them. There
will have to be some real statesmanship introduced into the present
_laissez-faire_ spirit, attitude, and methods of American rural life and
rural education. The nation in this respect needs a trumpet call to
action. There is need of a chorus, loud and long, and if the small voice
of the present discussion shall add only a little--however little--to
this volume of sound, there will be so much of gain. This is my aim and
my hope.
JOSEPH KENNEDY
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I. RURAL LIFE 9
A generation ago; Chores and work; Value of work; Extremes; Yearly
routine; Disliked in comparison; Other hard jobs; Harvesting;
Threshing; Welcome events; Winter work; What the old days lacked;
The result; The backward rural school; Women's condition
unrelieved; The rural problem must be met; Facilities.
CHAPTER II. THE URBAN TREND 19
Cityward; Attractive forces; Conveniences in cities; Urbanized
literature; City schools; City churches; City work preferred;
Retired farmers; Educational centers; Face the problem; Educational
value not realized; Wrong standard in the social mind; Rural
organization; Playing with the problem.
CHAPTER III. THE REAL AND THE IDEAL SCHOOL 28
The building; No system of ventilation; The surroundings; The
interior; Small, dead school; That picture and this; Architecture
of building; Get expert opinion; Other surroundings; Number of
pupils; It will not teach alone; The teacher; A good rural school;
The problem.
CHAPTER IV. SOME LINES OF PROGRESS 38
Progress; In reaping machines; The dropper; The hand rake; The self
rake; The harvester; The wire binder; The twine binder; Threshing
machine; The first machine; Improvements; The steam engine;
Improvements in ocean travel; From hand-spinning to factory; The
cost; Progress in higher education; Progress in normal schools;
Progress in agricultural colleges; Progress in the high schools;
How is the rural school?
CHAPTER V. A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 49
Rural schools the same everywhere; Rural schools no better than
formerly; Some improvements; Strong personalities in the older
schools; More men needed; Low standard now; The survival of the
unfittest; Short terms; Poor supervision; No decided movement;
Elementary teaching not a profession; The problem difficult, but
before us; Other educational interests should help; Higher
standards necessary; Courses for teachers; The problem of
compensation; Consolidation as a factor; Better supervision
necessary; A model rural school; The teacher should lead; A good
boarding place.
CHAPTER VI. CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 63
The process; When not necessary; The district system; The township
system; Consolidation difficult in district system; Easier in
township system; Consolidation a special problem for each district;
Disagreements on transportation; Each community must decide for
itself; The distance to be transported; Responsible driver; Cost of
consolidation; More life in the consolidated school; Some grading
desirable; Better teachers; Better buildings and inspection; Longer
terms; Regularity, punctuality, and attendance; Better supervision;
The school as a social center; Better roads; Consolidation coming
everywhere; The married teacher and permanence.
CHAPTER VII. THE TEACHER 77
The greatest factor; What education is; What the real teacher is; A
hypnotist; Untying knots; Too much kindness; The button
illustration; The chariot race; Physically sound; Character; Well
educated; Professional preparation; Experience; Choosing a teacher;
A "scoop"; What makes the difference; A question of teachers.
CHAPTER VIII. THE THREE INSEPARABLES 88
The "mode"; The "mode" in labor; The "mode" in educational
institutions; No "profession"; Weak personalities; Low standard;
The norm of wages too low; The inseparables; Raise the standard
first; More men; Cooperation needed; The supply; Make it
fashionable; The retirement system; City and country
salaries--effects; The solution demands more; A good school board;
Board and teacher; The ideal.
CHAPTER IX. THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM 100
Imitation; The country imitates the city; Textbooks; An
interpreting core; Rural teachers from the city; A course for rural
teachers; All not to remain in the country; Mere textbook teaching;
A rich environment; Who will teach these things?; The scientific
spirit needed; A course of study; Red tape; Length of term;
Individual work; "Waking up the mind"; The overflow of instruction;
Affiliation; The "liking point"; The teacher, the chief factor.
CHAPTER X. THE SOCIAL CENTER 114
The teacher, the leader; Some community activities; The literary
society; Debates; The school program; Spelling schools; Lectures;
Dramatic performances; A musical program; Slides and moving
pictures; Supervised dancing; Sports and games; School exhibits; A
public forum; Courtesy and candor; Automobile parties; Full life or
a full purse; Organization; The inseparables.
CHAPTER XI. RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 127
Important; Supervision standardizes; Supervision can be overdone;
Needed in rural schools; No supervision in some states; Nominal
supervision; Some supervision; An impossible task; The problem not
tackled; City supervision; The purpose of supervision; What is
needed; The term; Assistants; The schools examined; Keep down red
tape; Help the social centers; Conclusion.
CHAPTER XII. LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 139
The real leader; Teaching _vs._ telling; Enlisting the cooperation
of pupils; Placing responsibility; How people remain children; On
the farm; Renters; The owner; The teacher as a leader;
Self-activity and self-government; Taking laws upon one's self; An
educational column; All along the educational line.
CHAPTER XIII. THE FARMER AND HIS HOME 152
Farming in the past; Old conceit and prejudice; Leveling down;
Premises indicative; Conveniences by labor-saving devices; Eggs in
several baskets; The best is the cheapest; Good work; Good seed and
trees; A good caretaker; Family cooperation; An ideal life.
CHAPTER XIV. THE RURAL RENAISSANCE 160
Darkest before the dawn; The awakening; The agricultural colleges;
Conventions; Other awakening agencies; The farmer in politics; The
National Commission; Mixed farming; Now before the country;
Educational extension; Library extension work; Some froth; Thought
and attitude.
CHAPTER XV. A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL 169
Not pessimistic; Fewer hours of labor than formerly; The mental
factor growing; The bright side of old-time country life; The
larger environment; Games; Inventiveness in rural life; Activity
rather than passivity; Child labor; The finest life on earth.
RURAL LIFE AND THE RURAL SCHOOL
CHAPTER I
RURAL LIFE
It is only within the past decade that rural life and the rural school
have been recognized as genuine problems for the consideration of the
American people. Not many years ago, a president of the United States,
acting upon his own initiative, appointed a Rural School Commission to
investigate country life and to suggest a solution for some of its
problems. That Commission itself and its report were both the effect and
the cause of an awakening of the public mind upon this most important
problem. Within the past few years the cry "Back to the country" has
been heard on every hand, and means are now constantly being proposed
for reversing the urban trend, or at least for minimizing it.
=A Generation Ago.=--Rural life, as it existed a quarter of a century or
more ago, was extremely severe and indeed to our mind quite repellent.
In those days--and no doubt they are so even yet in many places--the
conditions were too often forbidding and deterrent. Otherwise how can
we explain the very general tendency among the younger people to move
from the country to the city?
=Chores and Work.=--The country youth, a mere boy in his teens, was, and
still is, compelled to rise early in the morning--often at four
o'clock--and to go through the round of chores and of work for a long
day of twelve to fifteen hours. First, after rising, he had his team to
care for, the stables were to be cleaned, cows to be milked, and hogs
and calves to be fed.
After the chores were done the boy or the young man had to work all day
at manual labor, usually close to the soil; he was allowed about one
hour's rest at dinner time; in the evening after a day's hard labor, he
had to perform the same round of chores as in the morning so that there
was but a short time for play and recreation, if he had any surplus
energy left. He usually retired early, for he was fatigued and needed
sleep and rest in order to be refreshed for the following day, when he
very likely would be required to repeat the same dull round.
=Value of Work.=--Of course work is a good thing. A moderate and
reasonable amount of labor is usually the salvation of any individual.
No nation or race has come up from savagery to civilization without the
stimulating influence of labor. It is likewise true that no individual
can advance from the savagery of childhood to the civilization of adult
life except through work of some kind. Work in a reasonable amount is a
blessing and not a curse. It is probably due to this fact that so many
men in our history have become distinguished in professional life, in
the forum, on the bench, and in the national Congress; in childhood and
youth they were inured to habits of work. This kept them from
temptation, and endowed them with habits of industry, of concentration,
and of purpose. The old adage that "Satan finds some mischief still for
idle hands to do," found little application in the rural life of a
quarter of a century ago.
=Extremes.=--Even with all its unrecognized advantages, the fact remains
that farm life has been quite generally uninteresting to the average
human being. There are individuals who become so accustomed to hard work
that the habit really grows to be pleasant. This, no doubt, often
happens. Habit accustoms the individual to accommodate himself to
existing conditions, no matter how severe they may be. A very old man
who was shocking wheat under the hot sun of a harvest day was once told
that it must be hard work for him. He replied, "Yes, but I like it when
the bundles are my own." So the few who are interested and accustomed by
habit to this kind of life may enjoy it, but to the great majority of
people the conditions would be decidedly unattractive.
=Yearly Routine.=--The yearly routine on the farm used to be about as
follows: In early spring, before seeding time had come, all the seed
wheat had to be put through the fanning mill. The seed was sown by
hand. A man carried a heavy load of grain upon his back and walked from
one end of the field to the other, sowing it broadcast as he went. After
the wheat had been sown, plowing for the corn and potatoes was begun and
continued. These were all planted by hand, and when they came above
ground they were hoed by hand and cultivated repeatedly by walking and
holding the plow.
=Disliked in Comparison.=--All of this work implies, of course, that the
person doing it was close to the soil; in fact, he was _in_ the soil. He
wore, necessarily, old clothes somewhat begrimed by dirt and dust. His
shoes or boots were heavy and his step became habitually long and slow.
Manual labor too frequently carries with it a neglect of cleanliness.
The laborer on the farm necessarily has about him the odor of horses, of
cows, and of barns. Such conditions are not bad, but they are
nevertheless objectionable, when compared with the neatness and
cleanliness of the clerk in the bank or behind the counter. We do not
write these words in any spirit of disparagement, but merely from the
point of view at which many young people in the country view them. We
are trying to face the truth in order to understand the problem to be
solved. It is essential to look at the situation squarely and to view it
steadily and honestly. Hiding our heads in the sand will not clarify our
vision.
=Other Hard Jobs.=--The next step in the yearly round was haymaking.
Frequently, the grass was cut with scythes. In any event the work of
raking, curing, and stacking the hay, or the hauling it and pitching it
into the barns was heavy work. There was no hayfork operated by
machinery in those days. When not haying, the youth was usually put to
summer-fallowing or to breaking new ground, to fencing or splitting
rails,--all heavy work. No wonder that he always welcomed a rainy day!
=Harvesting.=--Then came the wheat-harvest time. Within the memory of
the author some of the grain was cut with cradles; later, simple reaping
machines of various kinds were used; but with them went the binding,
shocking, and stacking, all performed by hand and all arduous pieces of
work. These operations were interspersed with plowing and threshing.
Then came corn cutting, potato digging, and corn husking.
=Threshing.=--In those days most of the work around a threshing machine
was also done by hand. There was no self-feeding apparatus and no
band-cutting device; there was no straw-blower and no measuring and
weighing attachments. It usually required about a dozen "hands" to do
all the work. These men worked strenuously and usually in dusty places.
The only redeeming feature of the business was the opportunity given for
social intercourse which accompanied the work. Men, being social by
instinct, always work more willingly and more strenuously when others
are with them.
=Welcome Events.=--It is quite natural, as we have said, that under such
conditions as these the youth longed for a rainy day. A trip to the city
was always a delightful break in the monotony of his life, and a short
respite from severe toil. Sunday was usually the only social occasion in
rural life. It was always welcome, and the boys, even though tired
physically from work during the week, usually played ball, or went
swimming, or engaged in other sports on Sunday afternoons. Living in
isolation all the week and engaged in hard labor, they instinctively
craved companionship and society.
=Winter Work.=--When the fall work was done, winter came with its own
occupations. There were usually about four months of school in the rural
district, but even during this season there was much manual labor to be
done. Trees were to be cut down and wood was to be chopped, sawed, and
split for the coming summer. Land frequently had to be cleared to make
new fields; the breaking of colts and of steers constituted part of the
sport as well as of the labor of that season of the year.
=What the Old Days Lacked.=--There was little or no machinery as a
factor in the rural life of days gone by. In these modern times, of
course, many things have made country life more attractive than
formerly. Twenty-five years ago there was no rural delivery, no motor
cycle, no automobile; even horses and buggies were somewhat of a luxury,
for in the remote country districts the ox team or "Shanks' mares"
formed the usual mode of travel.
=The Result.=--It is little wonder that under such circumstances
discontent arose and that people who by nature are sociable longed to go
where life was, in their opinion, more agreeable. Even with all the
later conveniences and improvements, the trend cityward still continues
and may continue indefinitely in the future. The American people may as
well face the facts as they are. It is difficult if not impossible to
make the country as attractive to young people as is the city; and
consequently to reverse or even stop the urban trend will be most
difficult. Indeed, some of the things which make rural life pleasant,
like the automobile, favor this trend, which probably will continue
until economic pressure puts on the brakes. Even now, with all our
improvements, the social factors in rural life are comparatively small.
Here is one of our greatest problems: How to increase the fullness of
social life in rural communities so as to make country life and living
everywhere more attractive.
=The Backward Rural School.=--Although the material conditions and
facilities for work have improved by reason of various inventions in
recent years, the rural school of former days was frequently as good as,
if not better in some respects than, the school of to-day. Formerly
there were many able men engaged in teaching who could earn as much in
the schoolroom as they could earn elsewhere. There were consequently in
the rural schools many strong personalities, both men and women. Since
that time new opportunities and callings have developed so rapidly that
some of the most capable people have been enticed into other and more
profitable callings, and the schools are left in a weakened condition by
reason of their absence.
=Women's Condition Unrelieved.=--With all our improvements and
conveniences, the work of women in country communities has been relieved
but little. Farm life has always been and still is a hard one for women.
It has been, in many instances, a veritable state of slavery; for women
in the country have always been compelled to do not only their own
proper work, but the work of two or three persons. The working hours for
women are even longer than those for men; for breakfast must be prepared
for the workmen, and household work must be done after the evening meal
is eaten. It is little to be wondered at that women as a rule wish to
leave the drudgery of rural life. Under the improved conditions of the
present day, with all kinds of machinery, the work of women is lightened
least.[1]
[Footnote 1: There is an illuminating article, entitled "The Farmer and
His Wife," by Martha Bensley Bruere in _Good Housekeeping Magazine_, for
June, 1914, p. 820.]
=The Rural Problem Must Be Met.=--I have given a short description of
rural life in order to have a setting for the rural school. The school
is, without doubt, the center of the rural life problem, and we are
face to face with it for a solution of some kind. The problems of both
have been too long neglected. Now forced upon our attention, they should
receive the thoughtful consideration of all persons interested in the
welfare of society. They are difficult of solution, probably the most
difficult of all those which our generation has to face. They involve
the reduction of the repellent forces in rural life and the increase of
such forces and agencies as will be attractive, especially to the young.
The great problem is, how can the trend cityward be checked or reversed?
What attractions are possible and feasible in the rural communities? In
each there should be some recognized center to provide these various
attractions. There should be lectures and debates, plays of a serious
character, musical entertainments, and social functions; even the moving
picture might be made of great educational value. There is no reason why
the people in the country are not entitled to all the satisfying mental
food which the people of the city enjoy. These things can be secured,
too, if the people will only awake to a realization of their value, and
will show their willingness to pay for them. Something cannot be secured
for nothing. In the last resort the solution of most problems, as well
as the accomplishment of most aims, involves the expenditure of money.
Wherever the people of rural communities have come to value the finer
educational, cultural, civilizing, and intangible things more than they
value money, the problem is already being solved. It is certainly a
question of values--in aims and means.
=Facilities.=--Many inventions might be utilized on the farm to better
advantage than they are at present. But people live somewhat isolated
lives in rural communities and there is not the active comparison or
competition that one finds in the city; improvements of all kinds are
therefore slower of realization. Values are not forced home by every-day
discussion and comparison. People continue to do as they have been
accustomed to do, and there are men who own large farms and have large
bank accounts who continue to live without the modern improvements, and
hence with but few comforts in life. A greater interest in the best
things pertaining to country life needs to be awakened, and to this end
rural communities should be better organized, socially, economically,
and educationally.