2


THE  PROBLEM

For  a  time  it  was  thought  by  many  that  an
improvement  in  the  quality  of  the  teacher  was
the  key  to  the  problem,  and  efforts  were  con-
centrated on  the  preparation  of  a  better  type
of  teacher  for  the  schools.  This  certainly  was
needed,  and  there  is  still  much  room  for  further
improvement  along  this  line.  Teachers'  insti-
tutes, reading-circles,  and  summer  sessions  of
normal  schools  and  colleges  have  rendered  valu-
able services  to  the  rank  and  file  of  the  teaching
body,  and  have  done  much  to  give  to  new  teachers
a  professional  point  of  view.  For  the  training  of
new  teachers  for  the  rural  schools  a  number  of
normal  schools  have,  within  the  past  decade,
organized  rural  teachers'  training  classes,  pro-
vided a  rural  observation  and  practice  school,
and  have  offered  special  courses  preparing
directly  for  teaching  in  the  rural  schools.  In  a
few  states  further  efforts  have  been  made  look-
ing to  the  preparation  of  at  least  a  partially
trained  body  of  teachers  for  the  rural  schools,
by  the  organization  of  county  training-schools,
in  connection  with  the  high  schools.  These  give
a  one-year  professional  course,  intended  primarily

3


IMPROVEMENT  OF  RURAL  SCHOOLS

to  prepare  for  rural  school  work,  and  state  aid
has  been  offered  usually  to  such  schools.  A  very
few  states  have  gone  even  farther  and  have  or-
dered that  all  teachers,  after  a  designated  date,
must  have  had  some  kind  of  professional  train-
ing. To  provide  this  a  number  of  institutions
within  the  state  have  been  designated  to  act  as
state  training-schools,  and  to  offer  twelve-weeks'
summer  courses  to  prospective  teachers.  These
courses  have  usually  been  specified  somewhat  in
detail  by  the  state,  and  have  been  intended  pri-
marily to  prepare  teachers  better  for  work  in  the
country  schools.  The  net  result  of  all  these
efforts  has  been  an  undoubted  improvement  in
the  mental  equipment  and  the  teaching  capacity
of  the  teachers  in  our  rural  and  village  schools.
