THE SOCIAL CENTER
During the past few years we have heard much of what is called the
"social center," or the "community center," in rural districts. This
idea has grown with the spread of the consolidation of schools, and
means, as the name implies, a unifying, cooerdinating, organizing agency
of some kind in the midst of the community, to bring about a harmony and
solidity of all the interests there represented. It implies of course a
leader; for what is left to be done by people in general is likely to be
done poorly. There is no doubt that this idea should be encouraged and
promoted. People living in the country are of necessity forced to a life
of isolation. Their very work and position necessitate this, and
consequently it is all the more necessary that they should frequently
come together in order to know each other and to act together for the
benefit of all. "In union there is strength," but these people have
always been under a great disadvantage in every way, because they have
not organized for the purpose of united and effective cooperation.
=The Teacher, the Leader.=--There is no more appropriate person to bring
about this organization, this unification, this increased solidarity,
than the public school teacher of the community; but it will require the
head and the hand of a real master to lead a community--to organize it,
to unite it, and to keep it united. It requires a person of rare
strength and tact, a person who has a clear head and a large heart, and
who is "up and doing" all the time. A good second to such a person would
be the minister of the neighborhood, provided he has breadth of view and
a kindly and tolerant spirit. Much of the success of rural life in
foreign countries, notably in Denmark, is due to the combined efforts of
the schoolmaster and the minister of the community church.
=Some Community Activities.=--Let us suggest briefly some of the
activities that are conducive to the fuller life of such a social
center. It is true that these activities are more possible in the
consolidated districts than in the communities where consolidation has
not been effected; but many of them could be provided even in the small
schools.
=The Literary Society.=--There should be in every school district a
literary society of some kind. This of course must not be overworked,
for other kinds of activities also should be organized in order to give
the change which interest demands. In this literary society the interest
and assistance of the adults of the neighborhood and the district, who
are willing and able to cooperate, should be enlisted. There are in
every community a few men and women who will gladly assist in a work of
this kind if their interest can be properly aroused. There is scarcely
any better stimulus to the general interest of a neighborhood, and
especially of the children in the school, than seeing and hearing some
of the grown-up men and women who are their neighbors participate in
such literary work.
=Debates.=--An important phase of the literary work of such a society
should be an occasional debate. This might be participated in sometimes
by adults who are not going to school, and sometimes by the bigger and
more advanced pupils. Topics that are timely and of interest to the
whole community should be discussed. There is probably no better way of
teaching a tolerant spirit and respect for the honest opinions of others
than the habit of "give and take" in debate. In such debates judges
could sometimes be appointed and at other times the relative merits of
the case and of the debaters might well be left to the people of the
neighborhood without any formal decision having been rendered. This
latter plan is the one used in practical life in regard to addresses and
debates on the political platform. The discussions and differences of
opinion following such debates constitute no small part of life and
thought manifested later in the community.
=The School Program.=--A program or exhibition by the school should be
given occasionally. This would differ from the work of the literary
society in that it would be confined to the pupils of the school. Such
a program should be a sample of what the pupils are doing and can do. It
should be a mental exhibition of the school activities. There is
scarcely anything that attracts the people and the parents of the
neighborhood more than the literary performances of their children,
younger and older. Such performances, as in other cases, may be
overdone; they may be put forward too frequently; they may also be too
lengthy. But the teacher with a true perspective will see to it that all
such extremes are avoided, for he realizes that there are other
activities which must be developed and presented in order to secure a
change of interest. These school programs occupy the mind and thought of
the community for some time. The performance of the different parts and
the efforts of the various children--both their successes and their
failures--become the subjects of thought and of talk in the
neighborhood. It acts like a kind of ferment in the social mind; it
keeps the school and the community talking and thinking of school and of
education.
=Spelling Schools.=--For a change, even an old-fashioned spelling school
is not to be scorned. Years ago this was quite the custom. An entire
school would, on a challenge, go as a sleigh-ride party to the
challenging school. There the spelling contest would take place. One of
the teachers, either the host or the guest, would pronounce the words,
and the visiting school would return, either victorious or vanquished.
A performance of this kind enlists the attention and the interest of
people and schools in the necessity of good spelling; it affords a
delightful social recreation, stirs up thought and wakes up mind in both
communities, by an interesting and courteous contest. Such results are
not to be undervalued.
=Lectures.=--If the school is a consolidated one, or even a large
district school, a good lecture course may be given to advantage. Here,
again, care must be taken that the lectures, even if few, shall be
choice. Nothing will kill a course of lectures sooner than to have the
people deceived a few times by poor ones. It would be better to have
three good lectures during the year than six that would be
disappointing. These lecture courses may be secured in almost every
state through the Extension Department of the various state
institutions. Recently the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North
Dakota have entered into an arrangement whereby they will furnish any
rural or urban community of these states with good lecturers at a very
small consideration. Excellent lectures can be secured in this way on a
great variety of subjects, including those most interesting to rural
communities and most helpful in all phases of farm life. These might be
secured in the winter season when there is ample time and leisure for
all to attend.
=Dramatic Performances.=--In the social centers where the conveniences
admit, simple dramatic performances might be worked up or secured from
the outside. It is a fact that life in some country communities is not
sufficiently cheered through the agency of the imagination. The tendency
is for farmers and farmers' families to live a rather humdrum existence
involving a good deal of toil. On the secluded farms during the long
winter months, there is not much social intercourse. It has been
asserted that the isolation and solitariness in sparsely settled
districts are causes of the high percentage of insanity in rural and
frontier communities. It is good for the mental and physical health of
both old and young to be lifted, once in a while, out of the world of
reality into that of the imagination. All children and young people like
to play, to act, to make believe. This is a part of their life, and it
is conducive to their mental and social welfare to express themselves in
simple plays or to see life in its various phases presented dramatically
by others.
=A Musical Program.=--If the teacher is a leader he will either be able,
himself, to arrange a musical entertainment, or he will secure some one
who can and will do so. All, it is contended, can learn to sing if they
begin early enough; and there is probably no better mode of
self-expression and no better way of waking up people emotionally and
socially than to engage them in singing. The importance of singing, to
secure good and right emotional attitudes toward life and mankind, is
indicated in the saying, "Let me make the songs of a nation and I care
not who makes her laws." The importance of singing is recognized to a
much greater extent in foreign countries, notably in Germany, than in
America. In Germany all sing; in America, it is to be regretted, but few
sing. There should be a real renaissance in music throughout the
country. As an aid in the teaching of music and of song, that marvelous
invention, the "talking machine," should be made use of. It would be an
excellent thing if a phonograph could be put in every school. Children
would become acquainted with the best music; they would grow to like it,
as the weeks, months, and years roll on. This machine is a wonderful
help in developing an appreciation of good music.
=Slides and Moving Pictures.=--In the consolidated schools, where there
is a suitable hall, a moving-picture entertainment of the right kind is
to be commended. The screens and the lantern enable us, in our
imaginations, to live in all countries and climes. The eye is the royal
road to the mind, and most people are eye-minded; and the moving picture
is a wonderful agency to convey to the mind, through the eye, accurate
pictures of the world around us, natural and social. The community
center--the school center--should avail itself of all such inventions.
=Supervised Dancing.=--Even the supervised dance, where the sentiment of
the community will allow, is not to be condemned. It is much better to
have young people attend dances that are supervised than to attend
public dances that are not supervised; and young people, as a rule,
will attend one or the other. The practical question or condition is one
of supervision or no supervision, for the dance is here. The dance
properly supervised, and conducted in a courteous, formal way, beginning
and closing at the right time, can probably be turned to good and made
an occasion for social and individual culture. The niceties and
amenities of life can there be inculcated. There is no good reason why
the dance activities should be turned over to the devil. There was a
time and there were places where violin playing was turned over to him
and banished from the churches. Dancing is too old, too general, too
instinctive, and too important, not to be recognized as a means to
social culture. Here again the sane teacher can be an efficient
supervisor. He can take care that the young people do not become
entirely dance-minded.
=Sports and Games.=--The various sports should not be forgotten.
Skating, curling, and hockey, basketball, and volley ball, are all fine
winter sports; in summer, teams should be organized in baseball, tennis,
and all the proper athletic sports and games. Play should be supervised
to a certain extent; over-supervision will kill it. Sometimes plays that
are not supervised at all degenerate and become worse than none. All of
these physical activities and sports should be found and fostered in the
rural center. They are healthful, both physically and mentally, and
should be participated in by both girls and boys.
It is probably true that our schools and our education have stood, to
too great an extent, for mere intellectual acquisition and training. In
Sparta of old, education was probably nine tenths physical and one tenth
mental. In these modern days education seems to be about ninety-nine
parts mental. A sound body is the foundation of a sound mind, and time
is not lost in devoting much attention to the play and games of children
and young people. There is no danger in the schools of our day of going
to an extreme in the direction of physical education; the danger is in
not going far enough. I am not sure that it would not be better if the
children in every school were kept in the open air half the time
learning and participating in various games and sports, instead of, as
now, poring over books and memorizing a lot of stuff that will never
function on land or sea.
=School Exhibits.=--In the social centers a school exhibit could be
occasionally given with great profit. If domestic science is taught, an
occasion should be made to invite the people of the neighborhood to
sample the products, for the test of the pudding is in the eating. This
would make a delightful social occasion for the men and women of the
community to meet each other, and the after-effects in the way of
favorable comment and thought would be good. If manual training is an
activity of the school, as it ought to be, a good exhibit of the product
of this department could be given. If agriculture is taught and there
is a school garden, as there should be, an exhibit once a year would
produce most desirable effects in the community along agricultural
lines.
=A Public Forum.=--Aside from provisions for school activities in this
social center there should be a hall where public questions can be
discussed. All political parties should be given equal opportunities to
present their claims before the people of the community. This would tend
toward instruction, enlightenment, and toleration. The interesting
questions of the day, in political and social life, should be discussed
by exponents chosen by the social center committee. In America we have
learned the lesson of listening quietly to speakers in a public meeting,
whether we agree with them or not. In some countries, when a man rises
to expound his political theories, he is hissed down or driven from the
stage by force. This is not the American way. In America each man has
his hour, and all listen attentively and respectfully to him. The next
evening his opponent may have his hour, his inning, and the audience is
as respectful to him. This is as it should be; this is the true spirit
of toleration which should prevail everywhere and which can be
cultivated to great advantage in these rural, social centers. It makes,
too, for the fullness of life in rural communities. It makes country
life more pleasant and serves in some degree to counteract the strong
but regrettable urban trend.
=Courtesy and Candor.=--There are two extremes in debates and in public
discussions which should be equally avoided: The first is that brutal
frankness which forgets to be courteous; and the second is that extreme
of hypocritical courtesy which forgets to be candid. What is needed
everywhere is the candor which is also courteous and the courtesy which
is likewise candid. In impulsive youth and in lack of education and
culture, brutal candor without courtesy sometimes manifests itself;
while courtesy without candor is too often exhibited by shrewd
politicians and diplomatic intriguers.
=Automobile Parties.=--A delightful and profitable occasion could be
made by the men of the rural community who are the owners of
automobiles, by taking all the children of the community and of the
schools, once in a while, for an automobile ride to near or distant
parts of the county. Such an occasion would never be forgotten by them.
It would be enjoyable to those who give as well as to those who receive,
and would have great educational as well as social value. It would bind
together both young and old of the community. Occasions like these would
also conduce to the good-roads movement so commendable and important
throughout the country. The automobile and the consolidation of rural
schools, resulting in social centers, are large factors in the
good-roads movement.
=Full Life or a Full Purse.=--The community which has been centralized
socially and educationally may often bring upon itself additional
expense to provide the necessary hall, playgrounds, and other
conveniences required to realize and to make all of these activities
most effective. But this is a local problem which must be tackled and
solved by each community for itself. The community where the right
spirit prevails will realize that they must make some sacrifices. If a
thing is worth while, the proper means must be provided. One cannot have
the benefit without paying the cost. It is a question as to which a
community will choose: a monotonous, isolated life _with_ the
accumulation of some money, or an active, enthusiastic, educational, and
social life _without_ so many dollars. It is really a choice between
money with little life on the one hand, and a little less money with
more fullness of life on the other. Life, after all, is the only thing
worth while, and in progressive communities its enrichment will be
chosen at any cost. Here again it is the duty of the teacher to bring
about the right spirit and attitude and the right decision in regard to
all these important questions.
=Organization.=--A community which is socially and educationally
organized will need a central post office and town hall, a community
store, a grain elevator, a church, and possibly other community
agencies. All of these things tend to solidify and bring together the
people at a common center.
This suggests organization of some kind in the community. The old
grange was good in its ideal; the purpose was to unite and bring people
together for mutual help. There should probably be a young men's society
of some kind, and an organization of the girls and women of the
community. It is true that the matter may be overdone and we may have
such a thing as activity merely for the sake of activity. It was Carlyle
who said that some people are noted for "fussy littleness and an
infinite deal of nothing." The golden mean should apply here as
elsewhere.
=The Inseparables.=--To bring all of these things about requires talent
and ingenuity on the part of the leader or leaders; and we come again to
the inseparables mentioned in a former chapter. It will require a great
personality to organize. The word "great" implies a high standard; and
strong personalities, such as are capable of managing a social center,
cannot possibly be secured without an adequate inducement in the way of
salary. Proper compensation cannot mean sixty, seventy-five, or one
hundred dollars a month. It must mean also permanence of position. Again
we come face to face with the problem of the teacher in our solution of
the problem of rural life and the rural school.
In conclusion it must be said that nothing is too good for the country
which is not too good for the city. The rural community must determine
to have all these good things at any cost, if it wishes to work out its
own salvation.