IN rural sections the school should be a factor of much more importance
than it is in the urban centers for the reason that the country people
are almost entirely shut off from other educative institutions such as
public libraries, free lectures, and association with their
fellow-citizens, privileges which the urban resident is able to use to
great advantage. To carry out effectively the mission of the rural
school in a community and to make it a center from which there may be
spread an influence for social betterment, as well as for intellectual
improvement, the teacher is the all-important factor. There are certain
duties which a teacher owes to his profession, in case he is working in
the country, which cannot be neglected if he is to obtain the results
which he should obtain. Following are some of the most important of
these duties:
First.--The teacher should visit all homes and get acquainted with the
patrons. This is important in order that he may get an insight into the
conditions under which the people are living, and that he may know the
particular difficulties of the pupils with whom he has to deal.
Moreover, acquaintance on the part of the parents with the teacher will
often aid in avoiding disciplinary difficulties, inasmuch as the parents
come to have increasing confidence in him and his work as their
acquaintance with him increases.
Second.--The teacher should study conditions from all angles so as to
adapt the school work to the needs of the community. Even in so small an
island as Porto Rico, we have distinctly different occupations centered
in different parts of the Island, and the teacher should remember that
the majority of his pupils will undoubtedly grow up to take a part in
the prevailing industry of the community in which they are born and
raised. The schedule and work of the rural school should not be an
attempt to imitate the plan of study of the urban schools, inasmuch as
the problems are entirely different, and until a teacher has convinced
himself of this fact and has made an attempt to model his work on the
needs of the community, the school will not accomplish its full mission.
Third.--The teacher should live in the district seven days in the week
during the school term. More and more the idea is becoming prevalent
that rural teachers should be provided with a house and a small plot of
ground near the school in order to become permanent residents of the
district. The average farmer is very conservative and needs visual
demonstration of the merits of new ideas before he will accept them. No
amount of theoretical teaching will improve farming conditions to any
great extent, and unless the teacher is able to become a demonstrator of
his ideas by actually putting them into practice on the plot of ground
which he himself manages, he cannot expect to influence to any great
extent the agricultural movements of the community in which he works.
The school should aim not only for the education of the children who
are actually enrolled, but also for the betterment of the agricultural
and social conditions of the community.
Fourth.--The rural teacher should be loyal to his pupils and patrons.
The teacher who feels himself an individual superior to the members of
the community whom he is serving and allows this feeling to express
itself in his attitude toward them, loses the greater part of his
influence through this action. The countryman likes to be met on equal
terms and does not enjoy a condescending attitude any more than does his
brother who lives in the town. The teacher should have in mind only the
benefits which he may bring to the community, and if he actually and
actively takes part in the social movements of the place he will come to
learn that human nature is the same in the country as in the town, and
he will be able to acquire a sincere liking for the people with whom he
works.
Fifth.--The teacher should so conduct himself outside of the school as
to win respect for himself and for his profession. The idea that a
teacher's duty to the school ends with the closing of the actual school
day is a mistaken one. Any action on the part of the teacher outside of
his school work which would tend to lower him in the estimation of his
pupils or their parents, inevitably tends to reduce the amount of
influence which he can exert. A teacher is on duty constantly and cannot
limit his working hours or his working habits to certain defined periods
of time.
Sixth.--The teacher should stay more than one year in a district,
unless a change means decided professional and financial advancement.
Short term teachers are often of more harm than benefit to the children
of a community. The advent of a new teacher means a change in plans and
usually a change in methods of work. These changes tend to upset the
minds of the children who naturally like to follow well-defined lines of
work. The constant change of teachers also means that none of them stays
sufficiently long to learn the needs of the community and the best
method of meeting these needs. School boards should offer inducements to
rural teachers in the way of increasing the salary for increased length
of service, and thus there would be less desire on the part of the
teacher to move from one district to another.
Seventh.--The teacher should arouse an interest in the school and do his
part to convince the patrons of the need of a better school to meet the
demands of the present day. A great part of the teacher's work lies
outside of his actual teaching, and more and more we are coming to
conceive the school as a social as well as an educational institution,
and by means of parents' meetings, using the school as a social center
and making the schoolhouse a gathering place for the patrons of the
district, where they may meet and discuss the problems with which they
are confronted, the present-day teacher supplements his actual teaching
duties. There are few other ways in which the social needs of the
country people can be better met than through the rural school.
Moreover, by means of these meetings it is possible to show parents the
progress which is being made by their children in the school work and to
impress them with the necessity of regular and punctual attendance. One
of the surest ways to win the approval of men and women is by
interesting them in the progress of their children, and the wise teacher
will take advantage of every opportunity which presents itself, and go
to great lengths to make opportunities for cultivating the interest of
the parents in the school, through this means.
Eighth.--The teacher in a rural school should have as the aim of rural
education "better men, better farming, and better living." The country
teacher who appreciates and realizes this is aware of the chief factors
in the solution of the farm problem. He must also remember that he is a
public servant and that the public has a right to expect him to put his
whole soul into the welfare of the community. The schools are held to be
largely responsible for ineffective farming and the low ideals of
country life. A great many of our rural teachers are not at all in
sympathy with rural ideals and rural customs. They regard their position
as merely temporary, and express, even though it may be involuntary on
their part, the idea that the town is much preferable to the country,
and in this way inculcate in the children a distaste for the life of the
country, when it should be their duty to present the best features of
rural life in order to persuade the children to remain on the farms.
Ninth.--The teacher should be able to discriminate between essentials
and non-essentials and omit the latter, thus giving more time to the
problems of country life. He should get away from the formalism of
textbooks, using them only as tools, and adapt all his work to the needs
and interests of the community. He should not attempt to be too
scientific, but should teach in terms of child life. And even in his
intercourse with the patrons of the school he should put himself, in
manners and conversation, on terms of equality with them. The teacher
should learn to use his energy for better and more definite planning,
and in the schoolroom should do for the children fewer of those things
that may be done by the pupils themselves. There is no reason why pupils
should not be taught to study and work independently, and the school
that fulfills its highest mission trains children to become independent
workers. Especially is this true in the country, where pupils should
work as well as study and recite. Mere academic training in the rural
school will defeat the purpose of the school and will be very apt to
produce young men and young women who are dissatisfied with the
conditions under which they must live after leaving school.