education, elocution, dramatization, and scrap-book manufacture suggest personal idiosyncrasies. Others of the subjects, however, show a clear appreciation of the peculiar demands of rural schools. Among these are play-ground activities, rural problems, sanitation, gardening, hot-lunch demonstrations, and community clubs. But these and similar subjects, which should be prominent in every course, are actually found in very few. In general it appears that both the tastes of the training supervisors and the local conditions under which they work are responsible for the great variety of subject matter, but that the first factor predominates. CONCERNING THE RURAL SCHOOL EXPERIENCE OF THE STUDENT TEACHERS Problem.-Do the student teachers in these departments possess sufficient rural experience to appreciate the differences between the common and the graded school, and between the demands of country and village or city life? Data from the questionnaire.-(a) Experience as pupils in rural schools, reported for 821 out of the 1,029 students included in the study. From this table it appears that of the group reporting 54 per cent have never attended a rural school, and that another 81⁄2 per cent have had less than four years of such experience. If the term "country-bred" be used for those who have received at least half of their elementary school training in the country, then only 36 per cent can be described with certainty as countrybred. It will be noticed that 208 students are not included in this summary, for the reason that their experience was not reported. It seems probable that the chief reason for this failure to report was that few, if any, possessed such experience. There is certainly nothing to indicate that the proportion of those having had rural experience would be any higher in this group. (b) Experience as teachers in rural schools: Out of 899 students reported in this connection 828 (92 per cent) have had none. Of the sixty-four individuals possessing such experience, forty-four had taught one year or less, ten had taught two years, six had taught three years, and the period of service of the remainder was not given. Discussion. Unfortunately the replies do not show how many of those who have taught in rural schools have also attended them as pupils. But assuming that there has been no overlapping, we still have 380 students, comprising 47 per cent of those reported, who are certainly without direct personal knowledge of country-school conditions, from the standpoint of either the teacher or the pupil. So far as overlapping occurs in the above groups, this number is correspondingly increased. It is safe to say that fully one half of the student teachers in the highschool departments of the State are lacking in this essential preparation. CONCERNING PRACTICE TEACHING Problem.-Country-school teaching offers certain peculiar problems of teaching and of management. In teaching, both the selection of the subject matter and the method of its presentation must be modified to suit the experience and future aims of a country child. Present courses and methods are largely city products. To readjust them to country conditions is the country teacher's problem. In management, we have the difficulties presented by an ungraded room, small classes, many and brief recitations, the simultaneous conducting of a recitation and supervising of the study room, and complete responsibility as to discipline and conduct. Such responsibilities require a specific preparation on the part of those who are to bear them. Actual experience in rural schools seems almost indispensable, but is lacking in fully 50 per cent of our prospective rural teachers. Where it is lacking, certainly the training course should offer an efficient substitute. And even where it is present, the training department should supplement that experience by giving to the student a wider knowledge and higher ideals of country life. How nearly do the training departments in Minnesota measure up to these demands? Rules of the High School Board.-"Each student shall devote one-fourth day or its full equivalent to practice teaching. Work must be pursued in the training department for the full school year of nine months." Counting five hours as a school day, a school year would then include 225 hours of practice teaching. "The organization of an ungraded model school is encouraged. The daily program should be framed as a model for a rural school. The model school shall in no case be constituted one of the grade rooms of the school so as to dispense with the services of the regular teacher." 18 Data from the questionnaire.-(a) Twenty-six schools (27 per cent) report that backward pupils, both dull and delayed, constitute their chief material for practice work. Twenty-eight more (29 per cent) describe them as a large factor. As one teacher puts it: "We are asked to help the backward pupils in their weakest subjects." The ungraded room seems frequently to be made up of this sort of material. Of the twenty-six schools which work chiefly upon backward children, sixteen have the ungraded practice room. One teacher writes: "We work on backward pupils in the model room and on pupils of differing capabilities in the grades." Several teachers, in another connection, object to the establishment of ungraded rooms in their departments because "they would be made up of delinquents from all the grades." (b) Thirty-seven schools (38 per cent) now possess an ungraded practice room; eight (8 per cent) have had one but have discontinued it for different reasons; twelve more (12 per cent) are planning to establish one in the near future. Thirty-seven of the teachers who neither possess the room nor plan to develop it 18 High School Board Rules, Minnesota Department of Education, Bul. No. 45, pp. 19 and 25. express their belief that it would be a help to their departments. Only nine profess to believe that it would not. That the fears of the few who oppose the plan are largely groundless is apparent from the fact that, of the forty-five schools which now have or have had the ungraded room, thirty-six (80) per cent) report it as successful, while only six (13 per cent) declare it to be a failure. Many describe it as very successful. One teacher writes that it is "one of the most successful things that we have tried"; another that "both teachers and pupils take great delight in it." Still another believes that it "furnishes the only chance for practice in discipline and system." Doubtless one great defect in these ungraded rooms in Minnesota is their use of backward pupils for practice purposes. To this fact is probably due much of the opposition which now exists against them. But the use of such pupils is not necessary. In fact, the best training supervisors refuse to admit more than a small proportion of backward children, and insist that the room be made truly representative of a rural school. Where this is done, unless local conditions are peculiar, the desirability of the ungraded room can hardly be questioned. (c) Thirty-five schools (36 per cent) report regular practice teaching in actual rural schools; ten more plan to begin such teaching shortly. Nine others furnish regular observation. Seventeen secure such practice irregularly by substituting when vacancies occur. Twenty-nine report no such work. Two fail to report at all. As to the amount of this practice, four report less than a week, twenty-five report one week, eleven report two weeks, one reports one month, and one says "two weeks to a month." The others give diverse and unclassifiable replies, but in all cases the amount is small. Eleven schools have both the ungraded room and rural practice, twenty-six more have the ungraded room, and another twenty-four a short practice period in the country. (d) The reports show great diversity as to the amount of time given to practice teaching. As shown above, 225 hours is the minimum according to the rules of the High School Board. The following table shows the number of hours a year reported by the different schools. 2 schools report less than 100 hours The following shows the number of months over which the training is reported to have extended. Nine months are required by the rules of the High School Board. Discussion.—We may here raise the question, is the practice teaching conducted primarily in the interests of the rural schools, or in the interests of the schools which maintain the training departments? No doubt in the majority of cases the real purpose of such practice, i.e., the preparation of efficient rural teachers, is conscientiously adhered to. But in many cases it would appear that the quality of the work is seriously affected by the apparent interests of the schools which maintain the departments. In some cases they seem to be used to reconstruct defective or delinquent material. One superintendent told the writer that he regarded his department as chiefly serviceable in this way. It is probable that his is not an isolated case. Again, in other cases the real needs of the departments, such as an ungraded room, are not met, because to meet them would interfere, or seem to interfere, with the unity of program or harmony of spirit of the town or city system. Doubtless these difficulties are to some extent inherent in the plan of asking city or village schools to perform this service. From one point of view it seems unfair to ask that a town school should risk its own interests in order to serve more effectively the interests of its rural neighbors. But from another point of view. |