Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

many pupils for one division, divide them so that one-half or one-third of them would attend a session alternately. Usually some of the teachers are proficient enough to take charge of the domestic science departments. Perhaps one teacher for the sewing, etc., and one for the cooking and housekeeping. For domestic science work we would need a kitchen and a complete outfit for preparing and cooking a dinner, a dining room, table and table ware, and a sewing room and equipment. A morning session of four hours would give them ample time to prepare and cook a dinner, wash the dishes, etc. I would expect the dinner part of the program to be attractive enough to give us a good attendance each session.

For the boys, we should have the usual manual training equipment for inside work; for outside work, land enough to give each boy not less than one-tenth of an acre to care for. The land should be so arranged that a team could be used in the preparation of the soil and cultivation of the crops; the pupils to get to and from the school at their own expense, the town to furnish food for the dinner, material for manual training, fertilizer, seed, land, etc. The land part of the scheme should be somewhat in the nature of an experiment station on a small scale, especial attention being given to preparation and cultivation of the soil, selection of seed and how plants grow.

As a part of this plan I would have all of the pupils in grades seven and eight centralized in one school with a man as teacher. Possibly some small towns would have too many pupils in these two grades, so we would have but grade eight centralized. This plan would help the one-room teacher in discipline many times, and would be beneficial to those pupils who would like instruction in industrial work. I am sure much better industrial work could be done under this plan, because only one outfit would need to be provided and only a small corps of teachers required. To do this industrial work successfully would require considerable outlay at the start, considerable expense for maintenance and someone with much enthusiasm and energy to direct the work. It would be difficult to find a man who would combine all of these talents as an instructor, but with some outside help I believe the project could be done. If the town furnished land, seed and fertilizer for the agricultural part of the project the

boys ought to have a share of the products—say, one-third—the balance to be used in the cooking project, or sold.

In conclusion I would say:

(1) Good teaching.

(2) Good supervision.

(3) Consolidation of schools wherever practicable.

(4) Centralization of grades seven and eight in all school work. (5) Centralization of industrial work.

The Earth-note.

There is a savage grandeur in these rocks,
Beaten by lapsing waves; across them blooms
The purpled sunset fires, and no man knows
How many million, million times that light
Has streamed o'er them before. The air is full
Of the cool, silvery surf-tones, and the song-
A piercing liquid tremolo of the birds,
The sighs of the soft, seaweed-scented wind,
Rippling the wide sea.

Ships, sailing slow,
My idle fancies follow, drifting far

To fairer countries into happier ports.

And always doth this Life-this mystic force-
Seem sweeter than the things it doth create,
Full, urgent, masterful, and strong in hope.
The very grass that springs from the bare rock,
Reaches and drinks and climbs; no more we know.
But there doth seem a joy that longs to breathe,
To leap in living forms forevermore.
And Love, that word which every language knows,
Throbs through the pulses of another day.

HELEN CARY CHADWICK.

The Revitalized Course of Study

(Report of Address).

By J. C. MUERMAN, SPECIALIST IN RURAL EDUCATION, BUREAU OF EDUCATION, WASHINGTON, D. C.

וווג

T

HE subject The Revitalized Course of Study in Relation to the Modern Community was assigned to Mr. H. W. Foght of the United States Bureau of Education. Mr. Foght was unable to be present, but this topic was discussed by Mr. J. C. Muerman, Specialist in Rural Education, United States Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C.

Mr. Muerman presented the latest statistics obtainable showing the number of pupils attending the free public schools of the United States, and the percentage of the entire population enrolled in the rural and urban schools not only in the United States but in foreign countries. This percentage when based upon enrollment, places the United States in the top list but when compared with the more advanced European communities in the percentage of daily attendance, the story is entirely different. The importance of the rural school problem was emphasized by a comparison of the number of children attending rural schools and their per capita cost which is so much less than that of the urban schools, averaging in some instances fully $3 in urban districts to one dollar in rural districts. An increased interest on the part of the normal schools in the training of teachers for rural communities was noted by the latest reports which show that in the 273 public and private normal schools in the United States 64 now have special departments for the training of the rural teachers. This is six times the number of departments found eight or ten years ago in these same normal schools. Approximately one out of every twelve public high schools now offers some form of teacher-training for its graduates or undergraduates who intend to teach. As a majority of the graduates go into rural school work, this training becomes a very important factor in the rural school situation. Unfortunately,

however, city trained teachers are familiar with courses of study adapted to the cities, which course may not be so well adapted to rural communities. Under these conditions competent supervision becomes necessary to revitalize the course of study and make it conform more nearly to the needs of the modern rural school community.

An outline was given of courses of study offered in the various states, taken from the reports of the state superintendents of public instruction, as well as from special bulletins fully describing these courses. While practically all of the states offer courses of study, only a few attempts to provide a separate and distinct course for the rural schools. Too many of the courses outlined for rural schools are simply the curricula outlined for the city schools with the addition of agriculture, nature study, and a few kindred subjects. A rural course of study should be built up from known rural conditions. The cultural part of such a course must not differ materially from that offered by the city schools, as this culture is necessary, and needed in rural communities fully as much, if not more, than in urban districts. The speaker mentioned a danger of following too closely the intensely practical part of a course of study and neglecting that which is fully as important-the old and standard cultural.

Some of the difficulties of revitalizing the course of study in rural districts were considered and illustrations given from reports of teachers already in the field. Among the recommendations made were the following: Consolidation when possible, in order to secure a longer school term, a better teaching force, and a rural high school within reach of every boy and girl in our remote rural communities; sufficient ground for a rural high school that will meet the requirements in agricultural centers for experimental plots and the proper teaching of agriculture; co-operation in all forms of club and community work. Normal schools might include in the extension service already offered a course in actual school practice by the graduates during their first and second years of experience in rural schools. This practice course should be in the hands of a selected committee of the faculty to whom the graduate teachers may report weekly or monthly on the difficulties they encounter in their daily work and in the community, the faculty of the normal school to con

sider the reports and render such assistance as they may deem most profitable both to the teachers and the schools. Incidentally, this might revitalize the course of study even in the normal school and bring the faculty of the institution in closer touch with the actual difficulties and conditions their graduates meet in the rural districts.

The cultivation of the teacher's personality and her attitude toward rural work were given an importance second to none in this needed revitalization of the course of study, for upon the teacher and her knowledge of the conditions in the community depend the success of the school.

Rosa Bonheur.

When Rosa died

La France in sorrow stood beside her bier.

The peasant folk drew near.

From Nivernais they brought the blossoms of the fleur-de-lis,
From By the laurel sweet-Humility

Fills oft a trivial gift with depths of joy or grief

Ah! when they looked upon the teacher kind

Who'd given the creatures of their love her mind,

Their thought was woe.

A languid youth would touch her magic hand;

A simple maid would feel the influence of the precious wand
That gave to her the wondrous skill at her command.

The breezes sang of toil through forest trees at Fontainbleau.
The pines that cast their purple shadows on the road

O'er which the Empress walked that day

Bearing the small white cross that showed
An honor-greatest yet bestowed

On womankind-voiced yet again that lay.

O wonder-worker! Courageous, resolute-even as a child
To listen and the Gods to face

While they their message on a darkened scroll did trace!
To listen-then to know no stopping place

Till nightfall-when on their way the flocks and herds to

safety filed.

MINNIE E. HAYS.

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »