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Show J2UML SCHOOL CiMJDSEN ( ) Illinois, schools they KV; ft & V I V1Kfet larn arithmetic, marketing, -HCi , Vsjfv V household chemistry, dairying k(X :f;.A A- jlt fti&fcift and other important studies ' 1 by working out practical 'Ji L ' t- UIX problems in everyday -W&M Opportunity for fPf,$ ; jr children. r''-l LlJj vmtfZ7rrjzz?r 3jizyD &oo car rozrAro WC COPYRIGHT BY WESTERN NEWSPAPER UNION 7 . , N'X TTr-y TI1EN little Johnnie Jones of f " N " ' v hXXMi, sb V W Niles Center, Cook county. 111., X, gk ! Jfef ). reaches the little red school- i rQY '7'' $ FtMA It WSJ house these fine mornings he s 'jL, V i 1;- - ' if tl r7fe d0es not place a big red apple X.n'tt ""FN v 4 00m$, stead. Johnnie takes a couple of f " -wf fresh eggs from each pocket of SI r t J "Vw&if1 " Vf Mmm Behind a table at the front of I JrSr a the schoolroom the secretary of fj "TJB-pf'''-.' ' the boy's egg club is waiting. On each egg, as "-iy riSef J- "Z I , , V, it is brought in, is written the nttmber of its iF vltl'l - C 3iS t owner and the date it was laid. And during each Ilf-t , , VI "V2 $97 school day the eggs are packed and sent by par- k4sfc,jw'sV pupil als0 kept an exact account of his expenses, eel post to one of the club's customers in Chi- t ,,, yn, x , including rent for the land occupied, and, after caS- Cysf- '- Ve" ' ' ; A selling his product, figured his gross receipts and The arithmetic lesson in several of the Cook Pifk -A net Profits, county rural schools now consists in keeping I t The twenty-nine pupils of this school, whose books on the receipts and sales of fresh eggs by l$3'WMM ' tk$& aSes ranSe between ten and fourteen years, members of the egg clubs. itWWStl ' FW4 earned between them a net profit of $1,185.25, Once a week, Instead of the old-fashioned re- IMxr '$Tkf$&CX g$A with totaI expenses of $191. The largest amounts view of lessons, in which the pupils had not the earned by individuals were $105.10 and $102.16, slightest interest, the weekly remittance for egg Mf i' and il is noteworthy that in each case the suc- shipments is received and divided by the boys Wjk cessful pupil was a girl. among themselves in proportion to the number L1ttIe Alma Kutz' thirteen years of ago, the of eggs each has contributed. To them the study tWf"'4vMJ ' first Prize winner' made Iler money from the sale of arithmetic has become a very real, important YyZW of tomatoes and asters grown on one-eighth of and interesting matter. All through the 150 rural V$ sLarW SV -f an acre. All the work of planting and harvesting schools of Cook county the same new spirit of f- WAIJ0f r- s the crops she did herself, with the exception of life has been put into the dry bones -f study. 'wMtWWJs the flrst Pawing of the land early in the spring. Boys and girls are studying botany, for in- ?L J ' ' j She prepared hotbeds for her tomato plants, and stance, by testing the seed corn which their fa- tWlrM$ fcjjk-'sls! made a coverinS of window glass for them. Next thers are planning to plant next spring; that A MiM .IL--'7fj she bought 200 small flowerpots, and when the brings in again the studv of nercentap-e tnmntn nlants were well up transplanted them Of-Robert n.noMldorD (y COPYRIGHT BY WESTERN NEWSPAPER UNION "TTt TT1EN little Johnnie Jones of V Niles Center, Cook county. 111., W f reaches the little red school-Yy school-Yy J house these fine mornings he I, does nt place a big red apple fjh'Xtff 011 the desk of dear teacher. In-'j$rt$$h In-'j$rt$$h stead, Johnnie takes a couple of W-U'm fresh eggs from each pocket of f0m$ Ws coat. WM4:'& Behind a table at the front of the schoolroom the secretary of the boy's egg club is waiting. On each egg, as it is brought in, is written the number of its owner and the date it was laid. And during each school day the eggs are packed and sent by parcel par-cel post to one of the club's customers in Chicago. Chi-cago. The arithmetic lesson in several of the Cook county rural schools now consists in keepjng books on the receipts and sales of fresh eggs by members of the egg clubs. Once a week, Instead of the old-fashioned review re-view of lessons, in which the pupils had not the slightest interest, the weekly remittance for egg shipments is received and divided by the boys among themselves in proportion to the number of eggs each has contributed. To them the study of arithmetic has become a very real, important and interesting matter. All through the 150 rural schools of Cook county the same new spirit of life has been put into the dry bones f study. Boys and girls are studying botany, for instance, in-stance, by testing the seed corn which their fathers fa-thers are planning to plant next spring; that brings in again the study of percentage. And when father is shown that, on the average, only 63 per cent of his proposed seed corn will actually actu-ally germinate, he is likely to get a new idea of and a new interest in the country school. There are few things of which Chicago has a greater right to be proud than that the rural schools of the county in which it is located are probably the most advanced and progressive country schools in the United States. The division di-vision of these schools into five districts, with a trained teacher, who i i also a graduate of an agricultural ag-ricultural college, at the head of each as director of rural life and of schools has proved a tremendous tre-mendous step in advance. County Superintendent of Schools Tobin, who -persuaded the county board to make an appropriation appro-priation of $10,000 to cover the salaries of the five rural life directors for the year, has Just received the reports of these directors covering the work done during the fall and early winter months. To read them is to wish that one might be again a country-school boy going down the long road every morning to the little red school-house. school-house. Almost every schoolhouse has been a social center for the rural community of which it is the center. Gas and wood ranges have been put in many schools and the girl pupils prepare hot lunches every day for all the pupils. They demonstrate their skill in household chemistry. pupil also kept an exact account of his expenses, including rent for the land occupied, and, after selling his product, figured his gross receipts and net profits. The twenty-nine pupils of this school, whose ages range between ten and fourteen years, earned between them a net profit of $1,185.25, with total expenses of $191. The largest amounts earned by individuals were $105.10 and $102.16, and it is noteworthy that in each case the successful suc-cessful pupil was a girl. Little Alma Kutz, thirteen years of ago, the first prize winner, made lier money from the sale of tomatoes and asters grown on one-eighth of an acre. All the work of planting and harvesting the crops she did herself, with the exception of the first plowing of the land early in the spring. She prepared hotbeds for her tomato plants, and made a covering of window glass for them. Next she bought 200 small flowerpots, and when the tomato plants were well up transplanted them into the pots. While the plants were growing she marked off the plat into rcA'S thirty inches apart, and a short time later transplanted the tomato plants from the pots to the plat Tho next few weeks she was busy cultivating the plants, keeping the rows entirely free of weeds. When the plants had spread out so much that she could not hoe them any more she went between the rows and pulled out the weeds with her hands. About the twentieth of June there were many nice ripe tomatoes on the vines and she gathered her first box, which she sold for $1. As fast as the tomatoes ripened she picked them and packed them carefully into crates, and every day her father carried them in to the Chicago market along with products from his own truck garden. In all she gathered 225 boxes of tomatoes, which brought her $113. On a part of her plat she planted asters late in the season and from the sale of these she realized $9, finding a ready market for all she could offer to the florist shops of Chicago. The flowers were shipped in fresh by parcel post each evening. Her total expenses were $16.90 for the two crops, thus leaving her a net profit of $105.10. This money she has loaned to ber father at 6 per cent interest, and she expects next season to double the amount of her land and her income. cently for the garden club work done last summer. sum-mer. There were five prizes of $100 in gold each, one awardt?d to that school in eacli of the five divisions which stood first in the progress it had made in agricultural education and in the results re-sults of its agricultural work. This money will be spent in the purchase of an agricultural library, li-brary, a Babcock tester, a vegetable canning outfit, out-fit, or some other agricultural apparitus which is to become a pat of the permanent equipment of the school. There were also awarded five silver cups, one for the pupil, boy or girl, in each of the five divisions di-visions who secured the best and biggest results in the actual agricultural wor'.t undertaken as part of the school course. It is a striking evidence evi-dence of the cosmopolitan character of the population popu-lation of Chicago and Cook county that the individual indi-vidual prize winners among the rural school pupils pu-pils for the year 1915 should be, respectively, of German, Italian, Dutch, and Hungarian parentage. parent-age. Ther'e is not a Yankee among the lot. The prize rural school of the whole county is undoubtedly that in Niles township. Every pupil in this school, which was taught by Seth Shepherd, Shep-herd, individually planted and took care of a garden or raised a field crop of some kind. Each -"-...----- also, by preparing and serving on special occasions occa-sions dinners at which their parents are the guests of honor. Day after day the boys and girls bring samples sam-ples of milk to school and test them with a milk tester for richness in butterfat. After a series of snch tests they are able to help their fathers decide which cows are worth keeping and which are only unprofitable "boarders." In many neighborhoods the parents of the pupils pu-pils have been organized into agricultural clubs and have begun to take an active and eager Interest In-terest in all the work of the school. On the long winter evenings the parents and pupils have frequently fre-quently met in one of the schoolhouses to take part In and watch an old-fashioned spelling bee. based on lists of 500 common words sent out at the beginning of the year by the county superintendent. super-intendent. Especially interesting and important is the plan to keep the schools or at least the school activities activi-ties in evidence all through the summer months. With that end in view, a large number of garden clubs were organized a year ago. on a basis which would keep the children interested, enable them to apply their newly acquired knowledge, and put a more cr less definite financial reward up for them to try for. Each member of one of the country school garden gar-den clubs rented from his parents last spring, at the regular rate prevailing in the neighborhood, a small piece of land for cultivation of which he was to be entirely responsible. All the money resulting from the sale of garden products grown on tha piece of land was to belong to him. By way of adding additional zest to the competition compe-tition among the schools and among the individual individ-ual pupils, a series of prizes were awarrlri to. |