The Improvement of Rural School Grounds and Interiors

(This subject was considered at the Third Annual Conference on the problems of the rural school at the State Normal School at. Worcester, Mass., March 26, 1915.)

HARRIET B. OSBORN, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, WORCESTER, MASS.

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NE of the most hopeful signs of the times is the awakening of the people to the needs of rural communities. Scientific methods have been applied to farming. It is possible to obtain expert advice on the condition of land and the cultivation of crops. The automobile becomes better and cheaper every year and with it must come improved roads. Farm houses are being improved and city conveniences are coming to be within the reach of the owners. The farming districts no longer seem completely isolated. The residents are anxious for improved conditions of living; they are in fact eager to adopt them but first they must know of them and see their practical value.

Educational institutions, too, and public-spirited societies and individuals are studying the problem of rural life. They are engaging in experiments and placing the results of their studies and experience at the service of the people.

Much is written nowadays about the importance of the school as a civic center from which may be disseminated plans for community improvement. To realize this there must be a friendly co-operation of teacher and people and a thorough understanding of their common problem. Frequently, though, this understanding is lacking. As daily contemplation of an object, however unsightly, leads us after a while to grow so familiar with it that we cease to be conscious of it, so living in surroundings which are lacking in beauty makes people in such communities insensible to the lack.

The teacher can see these things but sometimes fails to arouse the interest of the townspeople because they do not realize the need of change.

In the march of progress in the world of education the rural school has been left behind and only within a few years have the other departments of education turned their attention to it. During the past three years the State Normal School at Worcester, Massachusetts, inspired by its principal, Wr. William B. Aspinwall, has been studying the conditions prevailing in country schools and through direct investigation and by inviting the assistance of experts of national reputation has done much to arouse people to an interest in the rural school problem. The third annual conference was held in March, 1915, and was devoted to a study of the improvement of rural school grounds and interiors. It was marked by a greater enthusiasm than any previous conference. Educators, teachers, school committee men, editors, experts on rural problems, and members of the granges and of parentteachers associations came from all parts of the state and from adjoining states. During the preceding months the school undertook to discover what were some of the greatest needs in the rural school in its vicinity; both in the matter of surroundings and of interior decoration. Some striking conditions were found to prevail. Of seventy-eight schools reporting, 31 per cent. have no trees, yet of the forty-three schools reporting on the distance of the school-house from the woods, 91 per cent. are less than one-half mile distant. Out of fifty-five schools reporting, 82 per cent. have no vines whatsoever; out of fifty-six reporting, 77 per cent. have no flowers and 62 per cent. have no walks, out of fifty-seven schools reporting, only 26 per cent. have any regular care. As for interior conditions, from the eighty schools reporting only 24 per cent. have flowers in the school room; 86 per cent. have pictures in some form varying from Perry pictures to etchings. But only 20 per cent. have both pictures and flowers and only 8 per cent. have both pictures and some sort of sculpture, while but 10 per cent have both pictures and other decorations as vases, etc., but 11 per cent. have pictures, flowers and other decoration, and 5 per cent. have no decoration whatever. These facts were placed before the teachers and those residing in country districts in order to show what changes were needed. The speakers gave definite instruction as to what could

be done to improve such conditions and how it might be done at small cost to the community.

Frank A. Waugh, Professor of landscape gardening at the Massachusetts State Agricultural College, Amherst, asserted that a rural school ought to have at least three acres of land in its grounds, but of fifty-nine schools investigated, 68 per cent. have less than one acre and 12 per cent. less than one quarter of an acre. There should be enough land, he said, to allow for a school. garden and a suitable playground. Plans were exhibited to show the location of schoolhouse, garden and playground, and the placing of trees so that the shadows would fall in a way combining comfort and beauty. Usually, however, the schoolhouse is already built and not infrequently it is far from modèrn. Of fifty schools reporting on the age of the buildings, 26 per cent. only have been erected since 1890, while 36 per cent. date from the period from 1840-1865 and 10 per cent. were built before 1815. The land, too, is already set apart with the result that the amount usually cannot be increased. It is possible, however, to make over an old building and to improve the grounds if there is some one in authority who sees the needs and can arouse the people by the sheer force of his enthusiasm. The superintendent of schools in South Shaftsbury, Vermont, J. D. Whittier, who has effected remarkable changes in his schools, believes that it is always possible to reach the residents and stir them to aid in the needed improvements or repairs. Through his teachers he secured the cooperation of the parents and thus accomplished commendable results. He told of the "bees" held to grade lawns, to build steps and fences, and to paint the schoolhouses. The parents always hold the good of the children at heart and are quite ready to assist when they see that they will all benefit by the changes. Cordial relations are thus established between school and community and a spark of civic pride is kindled which must result in a gradual uplift. The teacher must be imbued with the spirit of progress. She must see the needs of the school and district clearly and must be in close sympathy with the people, for progress can result only through such an understanding. The teacher may be the only means of introducing to the people the possibilities of beauty in their surroundings. One of the speakers told of a teacher who, after years of teaching, still clings to a rural school because she believes that

the teacher has this very opportunity. Gradually the children acquire her point of view and feel the beauty of simplicity, order and cleanliness. The habits of mind formed here are carried to the homes and thus the school becomes a center from which radiate influences, subtle yet strong, which must eventually fix in the community the standards taught by the school. The teacher, then, stands in a close relation to the whole community and has within her the power to render an immense service.

Miss Jessie Field, Rural and Small Town Specialist of the National Board of the Young Women's Christian Association, emphasized this vital phase of the work which may be accomplished through the rural school. She spoke of the need of intelligent leadership, of the necessity of being willing to work with available material, of the need of gentle persistence and the imperative demand for sympathetic insight into the lives of the people.

It is probable that city dwellers scarcely appreciate the importance of the Farmers' grange in the movement to better conditions in country districts. The lecturer for the Massachusetts State Grange, Mrs. George S. Ladd, outlined some forms of grange work which aim at improving conditions in agricultural regions in making it possible for young men to acquire scientific training and in furthering the movement to apply the result of careful experiment and study to the cultivation of the land.

The possibilities of closer relations between the school and the grange were discussed and it seems certain that the next few years will see developed even greater interest in rural problems and a more intelligent and systematic program of improvement.