"Why, sir, I had been taking care of the pigs for many years, but getting too old and infirm for that, they sent me here to take care of the children."

But we are coming to see in this day that teaching is a matter of supreme importance. The teacher is one The teacher's of the most important factors in our position of power civilization, either leading our children to efficiency, or else leaving them stranded in incompetence from lack of education. The teacher confronts a threefold problem, whose magnitude is almost appalling. He must know thoroughly the subject-matter that he is to teach, and in addition, a wide range of information outside his immediate subjects, so that he may have background and perspective for his teaching. He must know the nature and mode of development of the child, his interests, ambitions, problems and temptations, as well as his intellect. And the teacher must also know the running of the school, a machine so intricate and complex that its mastery is no simple problem. The teacher will, therefore, occupy a new position of dignity and power in the new education. He must be adequately prepared for his work, and will receive correspondingly greater rewards, both in honor and in financial compensation.

FOR TEACHERS' DISCUSSION AND STUDY

1. Has our advance in education kept pace with our industrial progress during the last twenty years? What are the dangers of allowing education to fall behind? (Political, social, economic, personal.)

2. What evidences are there in the schools themselves that a new movement in education is getting under way? (Point of view, organization, curriculum, teaching.)

3. How much influence can teachers really have toward stimulating or directing educational reform? Upon what factors does the extent of the teacher's influence depend?

4. Without reference to former definitions that you may have learned, what is your definition of education? Stating the same question differently, what are the tests or measures of an educated person? How does this differ from the older point of view?

5. Measured by any standard course of study now in use, what amount of education do the boys and girls fourteen to eighteen years of age in your township possess? (It would be highly instructive to make a careful survey of the youth of your township with a view to answering this question statistically. If such study were carried out for an entire county, it would be still more interesting.)

6. What rural-school subjects most need revision to bring them closer to the life of the pupils? Do we spend too much time on arithmetic? (Is mere number so important that its study should claim nearly one-fourth of the elementary school's time for eight years? Do we spend too much time on grammar? Does a child attain facility in the use of language through the study of technical grammar?)

7.

What is the social status of the teacher? Do teachers rank with business or professional men in their standing in the community? If there is a difference, what are the causes?

8. What are the different forces now actually at work in reshaping the school and curriculum? (Tradition, teachers and organizations, social demand.) Estimate the relative importance of each of these forces.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE PROMISING FUTURE

In spite of its many shortcomings rural education has a promising future. For the neglect of rural schools Future of rural ed- can not long continue under the new ucation promising ideals that are coming to dominate in country life. The farmer and his problems are now a center of public interest. Every force in the nation stands ready to cooperate in order that the great fundamental industry upon which every other industry depends may be a success. Large numbers of citizens are awake to the necessity of redirecting many of the rural activities, and especially the rural schools. A great bankers' convention recently discussed rural education. Trade journals are devoting much space to the consideration of rural problems, and business men are everywhere concerned for the advancement of rural schools. Manufacturers and captains of industry are studying the rural problem as carefully as the problems of their own organizations. Learned and religious bodies throughout the land are earnestly striving to understand and assist in the betterment of rural conditions.

But most significant of all are the many signs that the rural people themselves are beginning to reach out for the great opportunities they have not yet utilized. Farmers are coming to see that their farms can be made to pay much larger profits for the labor expended on them,

and at the same time yield a greater return in food and supplies for the waiting millions. And they are likewise awakening to the obligation they owe their children in preparing them for a successful career.

All these conditions emphasize the importance of rural education; for education is, after all, the only means by Rural schools the which the reconstruction of rural conmeans of progress ditions can be brought about. The rural school is the crucial factor in the situation involving the advancement of agriculture and the future of rural life. As goes the rural school for the next generation, so in large measure will go the whole trend of agricultural interests. The schools are the most natural and efficient agency by which the information and new ideals affecting rural life can be introduced into the rural communities. Corn clubs, dairy trains and farmers' institutes are all praiseworthy and important factors, but these reach only a part of the farming population. The rural school reaches them all, or at least can easily reach them all when it is fulfilling its mission.

Rural schools now the center of interest

So fully is this fact realized that the rural school is coming to occupy the center of educational interest and attention throughout the nation. The federal government is encouraging rural education in very practical ways; the bureau of agriculture is making the ruralschool problem an important feature of its work; the bureau of education is constantly studying the ruralschool question, and publishing much material bearing on its problems. State legislatures are seeking to provide for the future of rural education; there is not a state in the union whose last legislature did not seriously discuss measures favorable to the rural schools, and most

of them passed laws which will have far-reaching results.

Recent legislation promoting rural education

The recent laws have taken many directions, among which are increased levies of taxes for the support of the common schools; requirements for the better preparation of rural teachers; the payment of higher salaries; the promotion of the teaching of agriculture and the industrial arts in the rural schools; state aid for the consolidation of rural schools; better laws for the transportation of pupils to consolidated schools; provisions for the establishment of experimental gardens for the teaching of agriculture; the betterment of rural school buildings; the providing of playgrounds; instruction of rural teachers in hygiene by competent medical authorities; the extension of compulsory education laws; the lengthening of the rural-school year; the establishment of rural-school libraries; providing better supervision for rural teaching; the extension of high-school privileges among rural pupils; better facilities for the training of rural teachers; the establishment of rural high schools. These conditions all indicate that the sordid crust of indifference is beginning to give way; the ground-swell of a great movement for the reclamaFarmers awakening to opportunity tion of the rural school is being felt. The conviction is rapidly gaining headway that the old type of rural school is a poor investment, and that no better investment can be made than rural schools of the right type. Farmers themselves are beginning to realize that in the poor and inefficient district school lies one of the most fruitful causes of the deterioration of the rural community which they so loudly decry. They are coming to see that if the better

of rural schools