VOL. LXII
INDIANAPOLIS, AUGUST 24, 1907.
NO. 34
%xpzviev.cz department
CONSOLIDATED  SCHOOLS.
The First of the Kind
1st Premium.—If by "consolidated
Schools" is meant that which here we
cull "township central school," built and
equipped for carrying all of the public
School graeles. from primary to all high
School as DOW laid down (whicli last to my
view conld highly be bettered), then the
Bnt requisite is the co-operation of trustee and patrons and tax payers of the
township. Outside of this are the questions whether it will pay, where located
nnd the number of schools to be thrown
out to make the central school a surety.
Herein lie mnny past mistakes.
Within sight of where I write stands,
ns  far as research shows  us,    the first
successful school of this kind in the I'nited
States. Il  was studied out and built by
a man named William S. Hall. :!1 years
ago. It was built against great opposition, bat iii'. a man of groat brain power,
looked far into the future, and knew that
the time for beginning in this line had
come. He  lived   in   the  days   when   a
township carried more absolute power
than now, and before a brick of his new
school was laid, the people, unknown to
themselves, had paid every cenl uf taxation levied on their lauds for the building. Tliey were surprised to find this
see. Such a school is best located in the
central part of the township. One
might go a small distance cither side to
catch a town, but not too far. Near
the old center district school this first successful consolidated school was built, and
as the schools iu Indiana are situated two
miles) apart, the four schools two miles
each way from the central school were
thrown out and sold. There was nothing In this case for the patrons to do but
send their children to the central school
or ont to the bordering district schools.
The children themselves settled tliat mat-
It r, preferring the central school even
though their parents might dislike the innovation. Four schools thus insured a
large first attendance. The rooms were
well filled. The fame of the school, the
high grade teachers put at its head, gave
it a name. From the outlying district
schools the larger pupils began to clamor
for conveyances to attend this school, and
they were granted by parents.
A barn was built to accommodate horses
rnd   conveyances. Hack-   were   never
demanded. After some years the duties of the janitor reached out to include
hitching and unhitching horses for youug
children driving alone to school, and seeing
them safely started home. As the years
have gone on the policy of the school has
'remained much the same, higher grades
of late years being one addition perhaps.
Because the number of country children
has steadily decreased in the last 30 years,
some of the outlying district schools left
in by the old trustee have been closed.
The few pupils left have entered the central school, driving to and from, the parents willingly providing the conveyance.
Here we have never, as yet, found a hired
hack a necessity.
The first five years of this school were
divided in such a way as to leave two
months in early summer for small children. I,ater this was abandoned. This
first central school carried three rooms and
employed three teachers during fall and
v. inter, anil two during late spring and
early summer.        Afterwards It increased
to four teachers all of the year around,
and now with a new building, costing $20,-
000 where the old one stood it employs tive
.teachers, with room sufficient should mere
of the district schools be thrown into it.
The only mistake made was in not building, in the lirst place, strong and sufficient.
Had this trustee thrown out all of the
schools in the township, instead of leaving
all but the nearest, his school would have
failed. The patrons would have had all
re-opened. Had he thrown out none, the
failure would have been just the same.
His central school would not  have carried
in', 'riiin' anil 'rithmetic. The teacher
who yielded the birch most industriously
was considered the most successful, and
if he held the fort and enforced fairly good
dicipline to the end of tbe term, he was
thought to have met Ihe requirements.
Dicipline is very imrJOFtant There are,
however other matters equally important.
A person to-day without education ist at a
gnat disadvantage. One must have, in
some degree, an understanding of mathematics, as this is the foundation of all
education; he should be a good reader and
keep informed on current events; he
should   he  a   good  writer and   speller;  he
Farm Home of A. F. Shaw,  Hamilton County.
more than enough pupils to have filled oue
room. Over 25 years ago I taught that
one room in a building put up to accommodate a whole township of pupils. The
empty rooms about me echoed of some
trustee's mistake. I also once taught in
another spick and span new building for
a  consolidated  school. It  feebly   flour
ished two or three years, and then I gathered the remnant left, the nearby children, in one room. This failure was due
to location. The township bordered directly on the suburbs of a large city containing, besides its many public schools,
ali manner of academies, seminaries, colleges and also forth. Not only this, but
three miles across the country was a noted
Catholic academy, and the same distance
another way, a Lutheran college. You
may guess why1 this consolidated district
school could not flourish. But the day of
tne country and town academy and seminary has passed, or is passing, and the
consolidated country school is making
ready to take the vacated niches.
Hush Co. I.  S.
Co-Operation Necessary
lid Premium.—Much may be said on
Ineth sides of the question. Some stoutly
declare that consolidation will never be a
success, while others aver that its success
has already been established and that it
only remains now to be generally adopted.
Great progress hasbeen made in our school
system in the last few decades. When
e M fathers and mothers went to school
they knew nothing about courses of study
and graduation, und but little interest
was taken outside of the three It's—read-
should know how to express himself,
nnd this requires a knowledge of grammar; and he should know something of
the history of his own and other countries. Above all this be should folly appreciate what is expected of him morally
nnd socially. The question then arises:
How can these object- best lie attained?
Iii the district school, where the teacher
has all the grade's, it is impossible to give
as much time to each as it should have,
and it has long lieen acknowledged that
much more can be accomplished in the
graded school. For this reason many
bave been transferred to town schools,
and drive perhaps several miles to reach
them. This practice has suggested a
graded sehool for the towuship, and in
many places these have been established.
One advantage in this arangement is
that the pupils of the country can also
have high school training, and many more
will take this course when it is a part of
their own home school. We have a fine
consolidated school building in our neighboring township. A high school course
has lieen added to the common branches,
and the building is perfect in all its appointments, with lockers, toilet rooms,
gymnasium, hot and cold water, steam
heat and every i oirrenienee of the city
school building. This has not been accomplished, however, without a great deal
of objection and criticism. One objection advanced is the cost, but we believe
the chief objection is the time that many
pupils are required to spend on the road,
and In this there has, without doubt beeu
much reason- for complaint, but this is a
matter that might easily be remedied. If
one   man  can  not  haul  a   whole  district
without driving too far and hauling some
tef the pupils too long a distance, t.hui an
additional driver should be employed.
Drivers will, no doubt, be much cheaper
than teachers when the new salary law
take's effect. The conveyance should ii:
in! cases be warm and comfortable and
lie driven by . responsible man who will
look to the comfort and welfare of the
little ones. The vehicle should be owned
by the township, as a man who contracts
to haul the pupils for only one year will
not care to invest as much in a vehicle as
the welfare and comfort of the children demand. Then the township should furnish the liooks. They could then be
changed as often as the school officials
might deem liest, and there could be but
little objection.
Then,    probably  the thing most necess-
sary   to  make   the  consolidated   school  a
success is the co-operation of the patrons.
Manv  are unfriendly  to the schools^  and
in   Borne   cases   whole   districts   refuse   lo
attend.        The    schools    cannot    be built
near every patron,    ns a matter of course,
but they should be as centrally located as
possible,     and     iu    many     instances    it
would lie advantageous for the town and
township to co-operate.      With a suitable
and   well  arranged  building,  with  all  the
.Jiseessary equipment;    centrally    located;
with  a   high   school   course   added   to   the
common  branches:  with  the pupils transported   to   ami   from  the   school   comfortably     aud     expeditiously;     with    efficient
teachers;    and     with    politics    eliminated
from   school   management;   then   with  cooperation between the patron and school
officials, the consolidated schools can hardly prove other than a success.
Reader.
Better for the  Children.
3d Premium.—The very best way to
make the consolidated school a success is
for the patrons to give it their eiicourage-
mtnt in every way possible. The consolidated school can be run a great deal
more satisfactorily, almost every way,
than a number of country schools can, and
also more economically. By grading our
Schools, which can be done only by con-
seelielating. the teachers can give a great
deal better satisfaction than if obliged to
teach all branches. Then too with a
consolidated school we cau have our pick
in' the teachers, while without them sometimes it is quite difficult to get a teacher
to accept a school that is at a distance
from town.
There are other advantages in a consolidated school; a better house, more even
fires aud consequently less pneumonia, the
children are hauled to and from school, no
loitering and quarreling and playing in
the snow or getting wet feet. Also the
school will be looked after by tiie officials
a great deal better than the little country
schools.
We have a consolidated school near Winona Lake where the children fromseveral
country schools are taught, and am quite
sure there is a great deal better satisfac
tion every way than before. I think we
patrons should encourage the consolida-
tieut of our schools and thereby improve
the opportunities of our children to get a
better and more thorough education.
G. B.
No. 000, Sept. 7.—Tell how to construct
an ice house and how to store ice.
No. 001, Sept. 11.—Give directions for
building satisfactory pens and sheds for
sheep.