Redistrict The County

REDISTRICT THE COUNTY

Make Schools Fewer but More Efficient

AN IMPORTANT PAPER

Which Is of Exceeding Interest to Every Farmer in Washtenaw

H. V. Heatley of Lyndon township made an address at a recent meeting of the county teachers and patrons' meeting in this city, which pleased his hearers so much that they requested School Commissioner Foster to have it printed in the papers. There was some delay in getting the manuscript but the speech is just as good now as when delivered and is on a live topic.

After apologizing for speaking, and paying a high tribute to School Commissioner Foster, he said:

It is impossible for us to overestimate the value of education. This it is that makes the difference between the civilized man and the barbarian. The state cannot afford to have their citizens grow up In ignorance; and here we have the raison d'etre of our free schools. We boast of our great and growing population. In what occupation is the majority of this vast multitude engaged? In the pursuit of agriculture. This brings the consideration of our rural schools to the front as they are the most, and in the majority of cases, the only available means, by which farmers' children can obtain their share of the education provided by law. It behooves every American citizen, particularly those who live in the country, to see that these schools are made of as great practical benefit as possible. Now a school officer has four strong reasons for taking an active and deep interest in promoting the welfare of our schools. First, as a citizen, and as he is invariably a parent and taxpayer he has those additional reasons. Fourthly, he has been deemed worthy by the voters of his district to fill this important position, therefore his honor is at stake, and it is due himself and them to see that the school succeeds.

HIGH SCHOOL TAXES.

We know that our school tax is two-fifths,  almost one-half, of the entire amount of taxes, so joining with that all the funds derived from the state and other sources, we begin to perceive what an immense amount of money is expended every year in the cause of education. We know we are right in this, for there is no one thing in this, our great and prosperous country which so impresses the intelligent stranger visiting our shores, and so excites his admiration, as our magnificent system of public education.

It may seem a little presumptuous for a person like myself, in the presence of those who have made the subject of education a study, to criticize our school system; but having been Invited to speak of our rural schools from an officer's standpoint I wish to do so candidly as they appear to me. I think they could be made more practical. The rudiments and ground work ought to be better taught. Nothing has impressed me more since I have lived in the country than the large amount of poor readers there are among those who have been taught in our rural schools. I may be wrong, but I blame, to a great extent, the teachers.

SOME POOR TEACHERS.

It is unquestionable that the most important factor in a good school is the teacher; and it is up to those who have the matter in charge, that they should look closely to the qualifications of those to whom they issue certificates. There are many things necessary besides the mere ability to pass a technical examination, and it is my firm belief that certificates have been given to many who have failed to do that.

TOO MANY DISTRICTS.

The rural school is an absolute necessity. It is an expensive system of education, for in them a large amount of money has been wasted. What is the remedy for this? There are too many school districts, too many school houses, and too many teachers. The counties should be redistricted, the schools made fewer and more efficient.

There is another important thing to which too little attention has been paid, viz., the construction of our school buildings. Proper ventilation should be provided; it is a great detriment to both teachers and pupils to breathe an impure and vitiated atmosphere. I am at present on the line of suggestions for making our rural schools of more practical benefit. There is no patron of them, having the good of our young people at heart, but acknowledges that they are sadly lacking in this respect.

NO AGRICULTURAL TRAINING.

All the agricultural organizations of Illinois met at Urbana, May 22 1901, for the purpose of dedicating a new building at the College of Agriculture. They communicated with Senator Cullom regarding a graduate course of agriculture at Washington for students who have taken a prescribed course at any of the state colleges and say "The agriculture of the United States will be developed, and the wealth of the nation increased, in proportion to the intelligence and technical education of the farmers of the country." This is true, but whereas no more than one in fifty thousand will be able to derive any benefit from this why not begin at the fountain head, and make our rural schools practical in this respect. The very branch of education most needed gets absolutely no attention whatever. Our rural schools are for the special training of the boys and girls of farmers, and should fit them for the immediate future which lies before them. Could not an acre or half acre of ground be provided for each school house?

WHAT TO TEACH BOYS.

The boys should be taught the great benefit our feathered friends, the birds, are to us; that we would have no clover seed but for the bumble bees. They should be taught how to war against the insect pests that destroy our crops, how best to maintain and increase the fertility of the soil, how to select good seed, to plant it, to care for it, and the reap it to the best advantage. I opine that this would inure much more to the benefit of the community and the nation at large, than for him to know who was the first king of England, or to be able to tell who constructed the hanging gardens of Babylon or built the great wall of China. It is of far greater necessity for our girls to learn how to make good bread, to sew, and take proper care of a house than to be able to define the boundaries of Belochistan and Kamchatka.

HONESTY AND HONOR.

The first and greatest educators are the mothers of the nation. "The hand that rocks the cradle, rocks the world," but when the state receives the child from the mother's hand, the best and highest teachings should not be neglected. A great philosopher has said "Mothers are symptoms of weakness." However that may be, we are all influenced by motives more or less. "Honesty is the best policy," it is true, but this is not the highest teaching. Our children should know that they must be honest from principle and because it is right. That it is better to be right than to gain the whole world by being otherwise. Bird S. Coler has delivered a lecture before the students in Ann Arbor lately, and if I understood it aright, he placed ability before honesty. Now no more pernicious doctrine than this could be preached to the youth of our country, and as an American citizen I wish publicly, in the name of the American people, to anathematize any such teaching. We want and must have strict honesty and integrity in the administration of public as well as of private affairs. I would wish that our boys and girls could have impressed upon their minds that although etiquette and gentlemanly deportment are most desirable attainments, yet a pleasing exterior of appearance and an insinuating habit of manner may be perfectly attained by one to whom honor is a stranger and true education is unknown. Better far have the diamond in the rough, than the polished imitation, which unsophisticated people are apt to mistake for the real gem. I would wish that it were indelibly fixed in their hearts that, to display and to practice the commonest moral virtues will bring a man more popularity than the exhibition of the greatest talents without them. The great Mr. Gladstone once said: "It is impossible to do people good against their will."

FORM INDUSTRIOUS HABITS.

You might provide the best of schools, the best of teachers, thoroughly equipped with all appliances and means, yet some people are so insensate that they would not avail themselves of them. Something should be done in our rural schools to enable our youth to form industrious habits and a taste for work. It is not enough merely to instruct a boy in the ordinary branches taught in our schools and leave him at that. It takes a good deal besides book learning to make a useful member of society and a good citizen. After a boy has learned the mechanical art of reading, what then? Is he to be left to his own devices, to waste his time and demoralize his nature by reading vile yellow journals and trashy novels? Who is to direct him to the perusal of that which will ennoble and refile, which will help establish his character and make a man of him.

RESPONSIBILITY OF TEACHERS.

The problem of education is most difficult of solution. This brings me back to what I said before. Success in any course depends greatly on the teacher. It does not follow, because a man known a thing, that he is able to teach it. Teaching is an art, which requires natural aptitude as well as acquired skill. "Poets are born, not made," and I believe teachers are born, not made, the difficulty is to find them. To make children feel happy and satisfied in their studies is just as essential as any part of a teacher's duties. As has been well observed, to make them happy then is to make them twenty or forty years afterwards, for youthful impressions are seldom, if ever, effaced. This shows what a most difficult art that of education is, and what a trying and responsible position those occupy who have the training of the youth of our country in their charge. The source of happiness is in the heart, not in the head, and the mere cultivation of the intellect will not produce it. There is in human nature a constant longing and striving after something higher and better. This is a sign of man's immortality. Every artist exercises this faculty when he produces anything original in his art. True education should develop the imagination and refine the taste, enlarge our sense of the beautiful, the good and the true. The unbounded longing of the mind cannot be gratified by the performance of common labor. Education should enable us to form to ourselves lofty ideals, fascinating the mind, gratifying our stronger emotions and cravings, which the stern realities of life can never do. When we reflect on the insipidity of earthly objects and pursuits, the futility of pleasure, and the many sources of excruciating pain, then will the trained and cultivated mind be a balm unto itself, finding solace and compensation even in this vale of tears. Now man is a sympathetic being, and for the best performance of our duties we need some one to laugh with us, to be grave with us, some one to please us. You may say, this is nothing but sentiment. Well, there are many important truths that are sentimental. What kind of world would this be devoid of sentiment?

ORNAMENT THE WALLS.

This reminds me of another point, viz, the interior ornamentation of our school houses. The walls should be hung with pictures of the beautiful and refining, with the countenances of those who have been noted for their virtues and their patriotism. The power of association is great, and youthful impressions are the most lasting. Could not part of the library fund be used for this purpose?

THE RURAL HIGH SCHOOL.

I have not touched upon the unit system or the rural high school, as the subject is new to me, but it certainly presents a solution of the difficulties we labor under in our rural district schools. There ought to be a radical change soon; the rigamarole about "the little red school house" is played out, it has fulfilled its mission, like the old stage coach, let it now be relegated to innocuous desuetude. Old and chronic diseases call for drastic and heroic treatment. The sooner the law applies such to our rural schools, the better it will be for the community and the taxpayers. It is a most expensive and inefficient system, for the large amount of money spent the returns are most meagre and unsatisfactory. Do not wait for the Michigan farmers to take the initiative, or I'm afraid it will be delayed till the crack of doom. How much we have to be thankful for, when we contrast our golden opportunities with those of our forefathers of whom Gray speaks, in his immortal elegy, when he says:

"But knowledge to their eyes her ample page,

Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll.

Chill penury repressed their noble rage

And froze the genial current of the soul."

There is no worse obstacle to overcome, before any beneficial change can be made in our rural schools, than the opposition of the class to which I myself belong, viz. the Michigan farmer. They are very conservative and seem opposed on principle to any change in the school law, and I certainly do think the majority of them need a little education more than their children do. Mr. Dooley says:

"I don't think it makes anny differ one way or t'other how free ye make idjacation. Min that wants it'll have it be hook or be crook, and thim that don't ra'aly want it niver will git it. Ye can lade a man up to th' univarsity, but ye can't make him think."