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Show some adaptationsTre needed in public schools ! v-N t fcS I WILL CARRY BENEFITS TO ALL PEOPLE OF STATE DEPARTMENT FEATURES OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. jj imrmrMiriniiiijiiiiMiijinu.,u"Bigi tZZZimmir- ASECTION OF DOA EST I CARTS v 3JGlIZIZZir " CENTRAL JUNIOR WIGM SCHOOL - OGDEN If - . .'':! DOMESTIC SCIENCE CLAS AGRICULTURAL-COLLEGE -LOG A Rural High Schools Would Be Especially Bettered by-Suggested by-Suggested Plan. By W. Or. EOYLANCE, Director of the School and Community Survey of the University of Utah. j THE lormal openiYig ot thfi creater I number of the pubhu schools of ' I tah has taken jilacc. Thou-I Bauds of children and youth j of both sexes, all nationalities, of cvei v , creed and ot every condition ot hie j have returned from their summer vaca- Hons and their summer employments in the fields, the mines, the lactones and offices to share equally in the ad- i vantages ot the irec instruction pro- ; vided bv the commonwealth. Not only in Ltah. but throughout1 the nation, the opening ot the schools j is an annual event which appeals to the civic pride and arouses the patriotism patriot-ism of every A merican. Free education educa-tion for the exorcise of the rights and the discharge of the duties of citizenship'1 citizen-ship'1 in a great democracy is among t lie greatest of hu man achievements. Through it self-government is justified and the future of free institutions assured. as-sured. The opening of the schools sheds a glory over t lie la nd in t he splendid glow of which the pessimist stands dazed and the knocker silent and abarwd. Even the impartial critic of the evils find shortcomings that are m ways to be found in human institutions institu-tions for the moment stands Inst in admiration" of a great ideal realized. But not for long. He must he always on guard lest through lack of understanding, under-standing, neglect, mista ke, inadvertence inadvert-ence or wrong the people be not. well and equally served by the institutions they create for their service. Some Are Handicapped. For thousands in Ftah and for millions mil-lions in t he nation the schools opened this month. Legally no child is barred. Fvery boy or girl between the ages of j ii and 18 years may, and those between i.i mid I 'I must, a ttend the public schools. The obvious conclusion of the j uncritical observer is that equal educational educa-tional facilities are actually provided for all children in the commonwealth, i I'nhappily analysis of the actual sit-imtinn sit-imtinn .allows that this is not (rue. In this and other states there are thou-I thou-I sands of boys and girls fnr whom in j any real sense the schools did not open j I his monl h. They did not open for j those boys and girls "of the farm lands' j v.hu have to remain until the harvest : j is com) ile ted. They did not open for i the high school buys who have to work i their way through school and have not j been aide io earn enough for that pnr-; pnr-; pose during the summer mouths. These ' cannot enter until later, and then only j with the handica p of hack work to I make up. The schools did not open they wit not open at all without some i ad i 'al changes in edncat ionnl me I hods ! for the boy or girl who is unable to adapt to the estalilishcd system of in-I in-I si ruction. ' Adaptation Necessary. Thousands puss the portals of our ' t cm n I i's of lea ni i n who never nene- TINTIG HIGH SCHOOL AINING GLASS? I of formai routine. Jn these schools it lis in exceptional vases that pupils H.re ! wakened from the habitual list lessness which is too oi ten the prevailing tit- musphere of the class room. The school j dors not open t o anyone whom the mind, heart and soul of its instruction does not reach. The public schools are for all the peo- pie and it is the business of those who administer the schools to see that they reach all the people. A da da t ion must be made to the particular needs of communities com-munities am individuals. Only when that is done can it be said that education educa-tion is truly universal and democratic. This cannot be accomplished wi thout many changes in our present system and practi'-es. The system is lacking in adaptation throughout, especially in the upper elementary grades and the high schools. For example, we strive for a uniformity in the school calendar in disregard dis-regard of conditions calling imperatively imperative-ly for modifications to meet local needs. Injustice Apparent. Among all the numerous examples of clumsy adaptation, or no adaptation of the work of the schools to inditrinl conditions, the rural high school calendar calen-dar is the most conspicuous. The school year covers both the planting and the harvest season, thus overlapping the industrial in-dustrial venr at both ends. We cannot change the seasons, therefore, sooner or ilaterwe mu'-'t change the school (-aleukia r. I'ntil this is done the advantages of the high school will remain beyond the reach of the greater number of the j boys and girls of the rural districts. I This is clearly shown by a comparison jof figures obtained in the university's preliminary school and community sar-vev. sar-vev. In the Nebo district, comprising the south portion of Ft ah county, there were enrolled la.st. year in the three high schools H71 students. The average daily attendance was 49!. Hut there were more than three times this Humbert of voung men and women, between the age's of IS and 2n years, who as greatly needed the benefits of a high school education ed-ucation as those who did receive it. All but FWi of these (i7 I students were under 18 years of age. In one of these schools, in whiidi the total enrollment last year was uearlv 'Ji'id, fewer than lull had enter", en-ter", I :i I tlin nt.eni n-f of echoed. Hecinise mate, figuring fi per cent interest on the investment in the plant and lu per cent annually for deterioration, the cost per student on account of the investment alone was if-fS. When we add to this the outlay for teachers ' salaries and for general expenses we get a total per capita cost of nearly $1U0. On the face of it this may not seem excessive., but taken in connection wit h the fact that the buildings, equipment and teaching force are ample for twice (he number of students instructed the gross lack of economy in the situation becomes sufficiently suffi-ciently plain. And when- we remember that more than half of the young people of the district are receiving no benefits from the public high schools the injus-, tice of the situation is equally apparent. Tn a not her district t here is a new .ffiuOO high school, in' which the enrollment enroll-ment last year was fifty -one students, with a n average attendance of only forty-nine. Tn this case the cost per capita is enormous, but there are some very im port ant. offsets : as, for example, ex-ample, the country is new and sparsely populated, but is sure to have a much larger popu I at ion in the near f utu re. Hut an item of far greater importance is that this school ga ve a comnr.in ity service aside from the inide work' that amply repaid the eommunity for its large outlay, thu supplying us with a working model of the high school of the future. V;iluc NoGreatesl. The excessive cost of high school education in these districts find the ex-t ex-t remedy narrow service which it gives, might hr, relatively justified if (he instruction in-struction given to the few were such as would be nf the greatest value to the. community. Hut this is not the ease. In four agricultural districts 1 4s&i7o-J 4 I I f , FILLMORE H1GW SCHOOL D ; studied, it is found that in one o?7 out of li7 1 students enrolled a re taking courses in agriculture; in another, 2'1', out of ."iS-!; in tho third, thirty-three out" of 1 S4 ; in the fourth, eleven out of fiUy-one. And of the comparatively few in these courses, the greater number num-ber are too young very adequately to grasp the signiticance of the instruction instruc-tion given. When we add to this the fact that instruction in agriculture in many high schools is bookish, over- technical and incapable of practical application, ap-plication, it is no matte;- of surprise that few graduates, even of those taking tak-ing agriculture, remain in their own community and give it the benefit of their training. The public schools as they stand are the greatest single achievement of our democracy. 1 low much greai-er will 1 hoy be when we shall have made along the line the necessary adjustments to the great purposes of that democracy, when the schools shall open to every individual of every age, tor what he needs and when ho needs it! |