£>tate College of Agriculture i3t Cornell HAntiittsiit^ Sttiaca, ^. S. Hlbrarp Cornell University Library LB 1567.S3a The rural and village schools^of^CoUj^ m The Rural and Village Schools of Colorado AN EIGHT YEAR AVERAGE OF EACH SCHOOL DISTRICT 1906 TO 1913 INCLUSIVE By C. G. SARGENT Specialist in Rural Education COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE FORT COLLINS. COLORADO . I914 SEHIESXIV NUMBERS Entered at the Postofflce at Fort Colllna, Colorado, as Second Class Matter Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013433895 THE RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS OF COLORADO An Eight Year Survey of Each School District 1906-1913 Inclusive Bi; C. G. SARGENT Specialist in Rural Education COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE Fort Collins, Colorado 1914 SERIES XIV NUMBER 5 Entered at the Postoffice at Fort Collins, Colorado, as second class matter The Colorado Agricultural College FORT COLLINS, COLORADO THE STATE BOAUD OP AGRICfULTURE. (BOARD OF CONTROL) Term Expires HOi\. F. B. BROOKS Colorado Springs, 1915 HON. J. S. CALKINS Westminster, 1915 HON. J. C. BELL Montrose, 1917 HON. WILLIAM iHARRISON Clifton, 1917 HON. CHAS. PEARSON Durango, 1919 HON. R. W. CORWIN Pueblo, 1919 MRS. J. B. BELFORD Denver, 1921 HON. A. A. EDWARDS Fort Collins, 1921 KXKCITIVE COMMITTEE A. A. EDWARDS. Chairman J. S. CALKINS B. M. AMMONS OFFICERS. CHAS. A. LORY, M.S., LL.D., D.Sc. . . .Frcsidciit iniij Actiit,/ Director uf Extension Scrlkv S. ARTHUR JOHXSOX, M.S Dean of Faculty C. P. GILLETTE, M.S Director Experiment Station L. M. TAYLOR Secretary of the Faculty Department of Rural and Industrial Education C. G. SARGEN'T Siieeinlist in Rural Education and Rural School Visitor W. E. VAPLOX State Leader of Bans' and GirW Cluhs Rural Life Betterment Series No. 1 Rural and Village Schools of Colorado An Eight Year Survey of Each District 1906 to 1913 Inclusive TABLE OF CONTENTS Page. Foreword 4 Introductory Statement 5 The Survey 6 The School Census 8 The Enrollment 13 The Average Daily Attendance 2z Eighth Grade Graduates 28 Length of Term 47 Special School Taxes and Revenues 49 Teachers and Salaries 56 Sites and Buildings 64 The District System 72 Consolidation of Districts 78 Summary 97 Suggestions for Improvement 100 MAPS USED IN BULLETIN. MAP I. — Map of Colorado showing the dry land, irrigated, mountainous, and grazing counties 12 MAP II. — School districts of Cheyenne county 75 MAP III. — School districts of Weld county 75 FIGURES USED IN BULLETIN. FIG. I. — Total eighth grade graduates for eight years in each third class district in Mesa county 30 FIG. II. — Total eighth grade graduates, and those who did not graduate, all districts, Huerfano county 31 FIG. III. — Tuma county, eighth grade graduates, and those who did not graduate, all districts 32 FIG. IV. — Thirty-nine districts in Yuma county that had no graduates in eight years 33 FIG. "V. — Enrollment and eighth grade graduates, all districts in Las Ani- mas county 34 FIG. VI. — Forty-one districts In Las Animas county that had no graduates in eight years 36 FIG. VII. — Average enrollment and total eighth grade graduates in the 1725 districts 37 FIG. VIII. — Average daily attendance and total eighth grade graduates in the 1725 districts 38 FTG. IX. — Special tax resources, and amounts used and unused 55 IflG. X. — Total male and female teachers for 1725 districts, eight years, for sixty counties 64 FIG. XI. — Building resources and the amounts used and unused in the 1725 districts, eight year average 69 FIG. XIT. — Enrollment and teachers in Appleton school 85 FIG. XIII. — Enrollment and teachers in Cache La Poudre School 92 PICTURES OP SCHOOL BUILDINGS, ETC., USED IN BULLETIN. PICTURE I. — Buildings worth less than S500 66 PICTURE II. — Buildings worth between ?500 and $1000 68 PICTURE III. — Buildings worth more than ?1000 70 PICTURE IV. — Loma School, the three old buildings and the new 79 PICTURE V. — Fruitvale School 81 PICTURE VI. — Fruitvale High School pupils 82 PICTURE VIT. — Fruitvale Transportation "Wagon 83 PICTURE VIII. — Appleton School, three old buildings 86 PICTURE IX. — Appleton Consolidated School 87 PICTURE X. — Appleton's last year high school pupils 88 PICTURE XI. — Six abandoned buildings in Cache La Poudre district 90 PICTURE XII. — Cache La Poudre Consolidated School 91 PICTURE XIII. — Principal's cottage. Cache La Poudre School 93 PICTURE XIV. — High School Graduating Class, Cache La Poudre Srhool.. 94 PICTURE XV. — Football Team, Cache La Poudre School 94 PICTURE XVI, — Athletic Field, Cache La Poudre School 35 FOREWORD The third class school district is the unit o£ organization that ou.- people have provided for the training of the children of the villages and of the open country of Colorado in the rudiments of reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geography and economics, for fitting those who have completed the prescribed course of study for entering the high school, and for giving all some understanding of the duties, privileges and re- sponsibilities of American citizenship. The importance of the third class school district, judged from the standpoint of the work it is charged to do, is fundamental and its effi- ciency of vital necessity to our state and national life. The heavy bur- den of responsibility that it carries and the great importance of its work, are largely overlooked because we are accustomed to consider rather the small individual district with its comparatively few pupils, than the ag- gregate number of districts in the state with the many thousands of pu- pils that these serve. Judgment, too, of how far and how well the dis- trict serves the people, should be based on the work of all the districts rather than that of any individual one, and manifestly, too, knowledge of state conditions in the aggregate must be had by him who can justly criticise our rural and village schools or safely plan for their improve- ment. It was a growing conviction of the imperative need of more knowl- edge of our rural schools from the standpoint of the State as a whole, for guidance in plans for their improvement, that prompted the planning and carrying forward of a survey of all of the third class districts of the state by our Department of Rural and Industrial Education. The dom- inant idea has been to learn just what kind of service the schools in the third class districts are giving. Months were necessary for the collection of data and fully as much time for its study and analysis. Much thought was given to the method of properly illustrating various phases of study and earnest effort was made to show the method used clearly and to give the results of the various lines of inquiry thoroughly, accurately and in proper relation so that the people of Colorado might see the work of our rural schools in proper perspective and decide for themselves whether the boys and girls of the county are getting the training that will fit them for twentieth century service. The work of the survey has been a heavy task, requiring a great deal of individual and institutional sacrifice, but it was done gladly and cheerfully and the results are published in the hope that they may be of service to the people of Colorado in their great work of rural school im- provement and aid them in their efforts to give better educational ad- vantages to the country children. CHAS. A. LORY, President. Introductory Statement No part of our public school system, and perhaps no other field of education, is receiving more attention at the present time than are the rural schools. This movement is not confined to any particular part of the country, but it is general. A few states have completed very careful investigations, and as a result, have already changed their rural school systems. Others are now in the midst of the work, while most all of the remainder of the states are actively planning such campaigns. The more carefully the subject is studied and the more thorough the investigation, the worse conditions are found to be, and even those best informed on this subject can hardly believe that the rural school is the laggard that all these investigations show it to be. The National Government, some of the states, educational associa- tions, business organizations, and private individuals are now engaged in the work. Much valuable information on this subject is now available, and much good has already been accomplished, all of which seems to point the way to better things for the boys and girls who live in the country. This movement began to assume definite form in several counties in Colorado in 1909. At this time a survey of all the schools of Mesa county was begun, to ascertain as fully and completely as possible the true con- dition of the rural schools of that county. All the schools bad been vis- ited and everything that would indicate efficiency or the lack of it was carefully studied, and from all available sources of information some of those in charge of the work were firmly convinced that these schools were not doing for the country children as much as they should and could do. Just from observation it was quite apparent that many of those of school age in each district did not enroll in school at all. Many of those who did enroll were irregular in attendance, while many of those in reg- ular attendance did not complete the course offered in the schools. The records of these schools were next examined to see what light they might throw on the subject by giving the past history of these schools. At first only a few items were studied, and those only for the previous year, but gradually the field of investigation grew and was car- ried back year after year, until the preceding eight years were covered, and all the items of record were included. When the facts thus obtained were made known, there were many in the county who arose to defend "The system that had produced so many illustrious men and women, and had otherwise served the state and nation for more than a century." When a movement was started to reorganize some of the districts where conditions were most favorable, bitter and determined opposition arose. Few movements within the history of the country have aroused more in- terest, or provoked more discussion. A few districts were consolidated. The matter was carried into the courts, and the litigation did not cease 6 COLORADO AaiilCULTURAL COLLEGE for two years, or until the oases were decided by the State Supreme Court or the State Board of Education. At this point, the State Agricultural College took up the Investiga- tion and eight representative counties were selected for investigation, and when the evidence was all in it was found that conditions were fully as bad, or even worse, than in Jlesa County. Several of those were among the wealthiest and most progressive counties in the State, and even the educators themselves were slow to believe that the schools were so ineffi- cient. When the survey of the eight counties was completed, a well defined movement for rural school improvement was well under way, under the general direction of the Colorado Teachers' Association. Many of the leading educators of the state, including those connected with the state educational Institutions, city and county superintendents, teachers, and others were interested in the work. It seemed necessary to have all of ihe facts bearing upon the subject to most intelligently carry on the work, and the State Agricultural College undertook the stupendous task of com- pleting an eight-year survey for the whole state. There were 62 counties, and more than 180 school districts covered by the investigation, and It lequired 3 600 typewritten pages to contain the tabulated data alone. This bulletin gives in a greatly condensed and summarized form the most important facts disclosed by the survey. THE SURVEY A brief description of the public school system of Colorado is nec- essary for a clear understanding of the survey. The school district is the unit for all school purposes. The district boundaries are arbitrarily made by the people who make the new district, and are arbitrarily changed when the district is divided by a dissatisfied faction that wants a "school of its own." There is no uniformity as to size and area and they vary in this respect from one and a quarter sections to thirty town- ships. They are classified according to law as first, second, and third class districts, the classification being based wholly upon the school census of each district. Districts that have on their census list 1000 or more chil- dren between the ages of six and twenty-one years, are classified as dis- tricts of the first class; those with from 350 to 1000 as dis- tricts of the second class; while all districts with a school census of less than 3 50 are classed as third-class districts. According to this classifica- tion all districts of the third class may be considered as rural schools, although the schools may be located in small towns and have from one to as many as eight teachers employed in the same building. While the survey is complete for all school districts in the state, yet the facts and figures here given relate only to districts that have a school census of less than 350 children between the ages of six and twenty-one years, or third class districts only. There are 1725 different districts covered by this survey. Each of these districts has a school board of three members, elected by the people, for terms of three years, the term COLORADO RVRAL AND VILLAGMl SCHOOLS 7 of one director expiring eacli year. This board possesses almost abso- lute power in tlie conduct of its school or schools. Or it might be more correct to say that it possesses all the power and authority conferred by law for that purpose, and no authority outside the district possesses more than advisory power in the mianagement of the schools. One of the many duties imposed upon this board is that of making an Annual Report to the County Superintendent of Schools on or before the first day of August of each year. This report is required under a penalty of $100.00, and its correctness must be sworn to when it is filed with the superintendent. The blanks are provided by the State Superin- tendent and are uniform in all of the districts. The city of Denver uses the same form as the smallest country school. From these reports, the County Superintendent makes an Annual Report to the State Superin- tendent. It is well to bear in mind that these reports are made for the entire district as a unit, whether it maintains one or many different schools. The facts thus given show what the distract organization as a unit in our school system has done for the education of its children in any given year. It is from the County Superintendent's report to the State Super- intendent that this survey was made. This report includes all items of record, such as the personal statistics of the school proper, the kind of building, its condition, value and equipment, and a complete financial statement. It is a fairly complete quantitative report of the educational activities of the district, and the completeness and correctness with which these reports have been made is, with but few exceptions, highly com- plimentary to the County Superintendents of the state. Forms, such as those found on pages 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 and 47, were used for tabulating the data so that each Item could be placed in a column by itself and the result compared with like items from other dis- tricts in the same county and other counties. Then the average or totals for each district, ,as the case might be, were summarized for the third- class districts of each county, so that all the facts of one county could be compared with those of all other counties in the entire state, and last, the county averages and totals were summarized for the entire state. Every possible means has been employed to make the facts given ac- curately represent the actual condition as found in the different districts and counties of the state, but absolute accuracy is not, and cannot be claimed for them. The aim throughout has been to show conditions as they are, and not to try to prove some pre-conceived notion in the mind of the one who made the investigation. It has been conducted as much for the purpose of finding the strong points of the system as of revealing its weaknesses, and it is confidently believed that the figures given are reliable for the purposes for which they are used. At least it is quite apparent to anyone widely acquainted with the schools in this state that if these figures and the conclusions drawn from them are incorrect, it is because they fall short of showing conditions as bad as they really exist, for after all, many of the most vital facts showing efficiency are not, ami cannot be made a matter of record. 8 COLOUADO AaiilCVLTUUAL GOLLIitiM It will be well to repeat that this is an investigation of the school district as a unit in our educationial system, and not of the one or more schools therein maintained. The district is the organized means pro- vided by law for supplying educational opportunities within its bounda- ries of which the school proper is the visible result. The 1725 different school districts are included in this survey, and their totals and averages are all considered together, whether thay had but one pupil and a one- teacher school, or ten one-teacher schools; whether they are located in a small town and have one teacher, or eight teachers in the same building, as some of them do. The survey includes all school districts in Colorado ttat have less than 3a0 children between the ages of six and twenty-one ;. ears. For conveniem;e it is arranged, as far as possible, in the natural logical order of the items investigated. The writer has examined every item of the 1725 districts, and to further corroborate the facts found in the records, has visited 100 of the districts in different parts of the state. THE SCHOOL CENSUS IN THIRD CLASS DISTRICTS The school census, as stated in a preceding paragraph, consists of all persons between the ages of six and twenty-one years, who are resi- dents within the district on the tenth day of February of each year. Two counties, Denver and San Juan, have no school districts of the third class. The remaining sixty counties all have third class districts, and these only are included in this survey. The figures here given are eight-year averages for each district, each county, or for the entire state, as the case may be. In some cases the districts were not in existence for the full eight years, since a few of the weakest ones were annulled during this period, and others were organ- ized between 1906 and 1913. Yet the total number of such districts was not large, and the averages are for the full eight years, or such part of it as the district was in existence. While many states report poor rural schools and give as one of the main reasons therefor, the small number of children in the districts, and their reports sometimes show several thousand schools with less than twelve pupils, and while some such schools are found in Colorado, yet that condition does not exist to a very great extent in this state. One district was found that had but three children on its census list and these were there for only one year out of the eight; the other seven years this independent unit in our school system reported no children within the dis- trict, still it kept its independent organization, went through the formal- ity of electing a school director each year, levied no taxes and spent no money for education. Evidently they were waiting for the stork to come along and help them out of their dilemma. Several others had an aver- age of but one pupil a year for the eight years, but such districts are so few and the number of children affected is so small that they may be con- sidered exceptional cases, for if they were entirely omitted from consid- eration it would make no appreciable change in the figures of any county. They merely serve to show the extremes to which the district system has been carried. It is not the purpose of this investigation to try to find COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS 9 a few exceptional cases and dwell at length upon them, hut rather to find, if possible, the conditions that exist in the districts where 90 per cent of the children live and thus arrive at a more correct conclusion of average conditions in the third class districts of the entire state. There were 172 5 third class school districts during this period, and of this numher only 281 had less than fifteen children of school age. While this was 17 per cent of the districts, yet but 2640 children lived in those districts. This was only 3 per cent of the average census of all the districts. While there are doubtless more small schools than these fig- ures show, as where there are several small one-teacher schools within the same district, yet when these are all accounted for, it is still true t'lat when such schools have all been combined they constitute but a sin:all part of the school children of the state who live in third class school dis- tricts. While, on the other hand, there are 191 districts each of whio'h had an average census each year of the eight or more than 100 children. These districts had a combined census of 30,706, or almost 38 per cent of the average census. Table I. shows these two facts for each county in connection with the average census of each. In studying this table, the fact must be kept in mind that there is a great variation between the different parts of Colorado with respect to climate and occupations. There are the thinly settled portions in the Great Plains section in the eastern part of the state, the still more sparse- ly inhabited regions in the high altitudes in the mountains and the dense- ly populated areas where the land is fertile, the water abundant, and climate favorable, where the farm unit is small and agriculture has been carried to a high state of perfection. The average school census, each year of the eight, for. the sixty counties was 82,174 children distributed throughout the state, as shown in Table I. Each county is responsible for its share of them, and the state is vitally interested in them all. Most of them live under condi- tions that are favorable for good and efficient schools, and while some of them do live where it is difficult to have the best kind of school, still it is the business of the constituted authorities to provide for their educa- tion, since failure to do so is a menace to the state. When considered in the aggregate, the amount of money spent each year for the support of the schools in these districts seems enormous, but when considered and weighed in relation to these 82,174 boys and girls, their possibilities and the interests at stake, it becomes insignificant. This is a great army of boys and girls, the hope of the state, and approximately one-eighth of them pass out of the reach and influence of their schools each year and enter the ranks of men and women, prepared or unprepared, for the truest happiness to themselves and the greatest service to society and the state. It is often said that the rural school prepares for nothing. We will try to discover in the succeeding pages how well or how poorly the districts, the counties and the great state of Colorado have nrepared for the edu- cation of the children as far as the records of each district reveal these facts. in COLORADO AORIGULTOBAL COLLEGE TABLE I. An Eight-Year Average. County WELD LAS'XNi MAS HUERFAN CT ■ LARIMER .. . YUMA 7 . . . BOULDER . . . MESA EL PASO ADAMS CONEJOS". ... . KIT CARSON . JBFFlSRSOir. . PROWERS . . OTBROr 7 . . . . . PUEBLO"^ . . . . latso:ta . . . . ROUTT ELBERT . . . . DELTA" ... GARF'IELD . . . WASHINGTON" FREMONT . . . . 7,522 5,815 3,077 2,886 2,836 2,6^0 2^532 27243 27145 2,119 ^7088 1,952 1,936 l,90 12 11 O 9 5 1 6 10~^ ^9 9 T8 ~"o 7 O 43 27 37 117 111 148 19 12 126 102 70 O 115 5 7 88 20 124 1)6 86 40 10 57 M -t-J ■a 0) m OJ -3^ 0) U d C! 0) a 2 tH a ^2 I'So 1 21 3,210 24 3,689 9 1,701 5 2 751 386 6 12 952 1,708 8 1,162 5 7 884 1,203 4 5 3 6 2 5 4 4 5 3 1 4 5 5 4 2 75 88 I 167 49 "2(r 51 ^0^ 578 789 59r 898^ 418 848 705 642 854r 457 179 820 789 0~ 6617 556 420 422 1 1 129 2 1 367 2 1 284 1 1 181 3 1 373 2 { 3 1 \ 1^1" 225 0^ 132 COLOHAUO RURAL AMI) VlLLAan NCHOOLH 11 TABLE I. — Continued. County Of districts 3 than 15 each of children of districts e than 100 o 3 a 711 676 Number with les children 1^ Number with moi children ■a S o SEDGWICK 1 12 1 -4 ^ 106 34 3 359 BACA 1 1 101 RIO BLANCO 642 1 3 31 346 BENT 614 594 1 ^ 1 ^ 12 26^ 2 CLEAR CREEK 402 ' CUSTER 592 ^3~ 1 3 35 ~1 ' *MOPFAT 246 ARCHULETA 529 1 1 9 1 110 CHAFFEE 501 490 1 10 1 * 78 73 PARK SAN MIGUEL 474 465 1 *) 1 112 OURAY 1 2 23 1 118 GRAND 463 1 3 19 SUMMIT 440 ^424^^ 1 4 27 0^ 1 3 195 f CROWLEY 1 244 MINERAL 362 1 3 1 ^ 23 38 35 1 239 PITKIN 358 ^335^ TELLER tJACKSON 258 1 ^ LAKE 250 1 3 31 DOLORES 188 1 ^ 1 104 HINSDALE 180 4 31 1 124 TOTAL 82,174 ! 289 2,719 194 31,254 *Reported for only three years. J-Reported for only two years. ^Reported for only four years. COLORADO AGItlCViyrURMj GOTAjEGE COLORADO RURAL AND VlLLAGlJ SVtiOOLU 13 THE ENROLLMENT OF THE CENSUS. An Eight-Year Average. Twenty-one of the sixty counties have no districts except those of the third class, and with the exception of the county high school in some of them, which is located at the county seat, there is no school for these children to attend but the one in their own district, unless they go away from home, which most of them do who attend the county high school. Nineteen thousand, one hundred twenty-seven children, or almost 25 per cent of the census live in these twenty-one counties. As stated elsewhere, the average school census of these 1725 school districts in the sixty counties was 82,174 for each of the eight years,, while the average enrollment was only 64,385, or 78 per cent of the "census. An average of 22 per cent did not enroll each year of the eight in the schools in these 1725 districts. There is no doubt but that many of these chil- dren had not yet completed the elementary course and should still have been enrolled and attending their own schools, while others had finished the eight grades, and since their districts made no further provision for their education they could no longer attend school unless they went away from home. It is true that some parents who live near town and city schools do send their children to the city high schools after they have completed the eight grades in the country schools, but at the most these could amount to only a small part of the 17,789 who did not enroll in the coun- try schools, and it is reasonably certain that the great majority of these boys and girls are rapidly approaching manhood and womanhood with in- sufficient education for the daily demands of society and citizenship. So 17,789 boys and girls constitute "EXHIBIT A" in this investigation, and indicate the first loss recorded against the district system of rural schools in Colorado. It is not the intention here to state or imply that all of the districts can or should maintain high schools, but simply to point out the tact that here are nearly one-fourth of the country school children of the state whose education is not provided for in the school system maintained for that purpose. In the great majority of cases the district makes no further provision for the education of its children after they have fin- ished the elementary course, and neither the county nor the state has as yet come to their relief with any adequate provision for it. Table II. shows the average school census, the average enroUmeni, the per cent of the census that enrolled, and the number that did not en- roll for the eight years. The counties are arranged in the order of the highest per cent of enrollment of the census. 14 COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE TABLE II. The Census, Enrollment, Per Cent of the Census That Enrolled and the Average Number That Did Not Enroll. An Eight-year Average. County Census Enrollment Per Cent of Census Enrolled No.Who Did Not Enroll SEDGWICK 711 665 93% 46 , CHAFFEE .... 501 457 91% 44 LAKE 250 223 90% 27 BENT 614 541 88% 73 OTERO 1,906 1,679 88% 227 MORGAN 843 734 87% 109 PITKIN 358 311 87% 47 CHEYENNE 871 745 87% 126 MESA 2 533 2,182 86% 350 DELTA 1.643 1,399 85% 244 PROWERS 1,936 1,640 85% 296 KIOWA 727 610 84% 117 ARAPAHOE 1,306 J 1,083 83% 223 83% 131 1 LARIMER 2,886 1 2,393 83% 493 1 FREMONT 1,590 | 1,295 82% 295 i LOGAN 1,526 1 1,254 83% 272 83% 82% 83 SUMMIT 440 363 'T'T 81% 81% 497 GARFIELD 1,619 1 1,309 310 GUNNISON 1,085 j 876 81% 209 LINCOLN 1 551 1 1 245 80% 80% 306 436 MINERAL 363 j 288 80% 74 MONTEZUMA 1,009 | 807 80% 202 SAN MIGUEL 474 | 372 80%, 102 80% 68 WELD 1 7,533 6,039 80% 1,483 80% 1,483 PHILLIPS 1 949 1 758 79% 191 79% 191 WASHINGTON j 1,606 | 1,281 79% 335 78% 483 *CROWLEY I 424 | 336 77% 77 % " 98 HINSDALE 1 180 1 38 42 PARK 1 490 378 77% 77% 112 652 LA PLATA . . . .• 1 1,783 | 1 349 76% 434 76% 193 ROUTT 1 1,729 1 1,307 76% — 422 75% 478~ COLORADO RURAL AND YILLAQE SCHOOLS 15 TABLE II. — Continued. County DOUGLAS Census 920 Enrollment 690 Per Cent of Census Enrolled 75% No.WhoDid Not Enroll 230 PUEBLO 1,833 1,381 75% 452 LAS ANIMAS 5,815 4,329 74% 1,486 * JACKSON 258 190 475 74% 74% 68 RIO BLANCO 642 167 ELBERT 1,704 1,249 73% 455 COSTILLA 1,363 987 72% 376 CUSTER 592 427 72% 165 ADAMS 2,145 1,525 71% 620 I CLEAR CREEK 594 422 71% 172 GILPIN ARCHULETA 798 ^29 570 373 71% " 70% " 70% 228 156 GRAND 463 325 138 HUERFANO 3,077 2,127 69% 950 CONEJOS 2,119 1,429 67% 690 DOLORES 188 543 127 334 67% 61% 61 *MOFFAT 209 BACA 676 398 59% 278 TOTAL 82,174 64,385 17,789 AVERAGE 78% *NOTE. — Crowley county was organized in 1911, Moffat county in 1911, and Jackson county in 1909, and the schools In these counties re- ported tor only two, three and five years, respectively. The average enrollment of the census of the different counties varies from 59 per cent of the census to 93 per cent, a difference of 34 per cent, between the counties having the lowest and highest enrollment, while between the different districts within the same county, the eight-year av- erage varies from as low as 30 per cent of the census to even more than 100 per cent of the same. This seemingly strange condition is made pos- sible because of the fact that residence within a school district tor the school census takes effect as of the 10th day of February of each year, and after that date no account is taken of children who move into or out of the district, as far as the census for that year is concerned. So it is possible in this way for a district to enroll more children than those con- tained on its census list. Colorado has had a compulsory attendance law all this time, but there is abundant evidence that it has not been well enforced, at least it is certain that it has not been the means of keeping 17,7 89 boys and girls of school age in school who should have been there. This law was re- cently amended, and if it is now rigidly enforced, it will put practically all children in school, at least until they have finished the elementary course. Table II. shows the census and enrollment by counties for the sixty 16 COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE counties surveyed. In order to show how great the variation is between districts within the same county, two counties are selected for this pur- pose. They are Weld and Las Animas counties, and they are not selected because of their low general average, for Weld ranks among the best, while Las Animas county stands far above the foot of the list on this item; but they are selected because they have a large number of third-class school districts, Weld having 107 and Las Animas 7 6. Table 111. shows Weld county and gives the average for eight years of the census and enrollment, the per cent of the census that enrolled, and the average number in the district that did not enroll each year. Prom this it will be seen that the enrollment of the census varies from as low as 27 per cent to more than 100 per cent, the average being 80 per cent, for the 107 third class districts in the county. An average of 1483 children of school age did not enroll in these districts each of the eight years. To say that some or many of them had graduated from the eighth grade does not give a satisfactory answer, for even if they had, they should at least have a high school education, or its equivalent, and the records show that there were no high schools in the third class dis- tricts, and that but very few of the children from these districts enrolled in the town high schools. TABLE III. Census, Enrollment, Per Cent of Census Enrolled and Loss in Eight Years Through Failure to Enroll. Weld County. DISTRICT. C3 3 <'^ MS c3 — . A a <1H E e C o cS J3 3 District No. 104. . . .| 29 40 134% 1 118% ""1 11 District No. 108. . . .| 66 12 District No. 77. . . ' 22 26 118% 1 4 1 District No. 31. . . 31 35 112% 1 4 District No. 6 4... .| 105 116 110% i 11 District No. 7 3. . . .| 59 64 25 28 108% 1 io8%r ' ~ 107% 1 5 District No. 7 2... .| 23 2 District No. 44. . . 2 District No. 70... .| 60 64 106% 4 District No. 21... .| 42 43 64 102% 1 District No. 1 1 • • ■ .| 63 101% 1 100% 1 100 % ] 100% 1 1 District No. 102. . . District No. 109. . . District No. 45. . . ■1 21 •1 14 . 1 " 29 21 14 29 ~ - COLORADO RUliAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS 17 TABLE III. — Continued. Census, Enrollment, Per Cent of Census Enrolled and Loss in Eight Years Through Failure to Enroll. Weld County. 1 DISTRICT. o . cS 3 ? 3 > o 01 3 u o > 3 t3 a O u m u 3 tu O f-. o 0) u > A 73 O O PI a s to 01 a; Average Loss Through Failure to Enroll. Gain Where More Than Census Enrolled. District No. 69. . . 36 52 79 9 25 36~ 53 6 64 29 27 13 69% 11 District No. 7 4. . . 69% 16 District No. 17. . . District N6. 41. . . 67% 66% 63% 62% 60% 60% 60% 60%' 60%" 60% 56% 26 37 18 ~o 18 10 ^1 27 ^28 " 17 District No. 23. . District No. 3 . . . 101 47 District No. 42. . . District No. 54. . . 5 45 District No. 57. . . 23 District No. 5 8. . . 93 62 41 4lj District No. 85. . District No. 91. . . 68 71 District No. 82. . . 39 22 43 54 8 114 22 District No. 43. . . District No. 25. . . 12 23 4 53 55% 53% 50% 46% 10 20 District No. 8 8. . . District No. 63 . . . District No. 93... 27 4 61 District No. 10 6. . . 258 115 44% 143 26 District No. 75. . . 45 19 42% District No. 105. . . 29 10 35% 19 District No. 9 6. . . 29 8 27% 21 Average for each year of the eight 7,522 6,039 80% 1,540 57 NOTE. — ^All of the figures here used are averages for each district, or for the entire county each of the eight years covered by the survey. Table IV. shows these same facts for Las Animas county. Conditions in these two counties are quite different. Weld is one of the wealthiest and most prosperous agricultural counties in the state, where most all conditions are favorable for very efHcient rural schools, while Las Ani- mas is one of our wealthiest mining counties, where a large foreign ele- ment is present because of the mining industry. Yet on the item of en- rollment the extremes are nearly the same in the two counties, while there is only 6 per cent difference in the county averages. Many other exam- 20 C<)lJ)RAU() A6 7, or 6 8 per cent of the attendance in the seventy-five districts. There were twelve districts in which the average daily attendance was between twenty and thirty pupils. These COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS 25 districts had an aggregate average daily attendance ot 1186 or 12 per cent o£ the attendance of the third class districts. Twenty-five other districts had an average daily attendance of between ten and twenty children and these account for 11 per cent more of the average daily attendance, while the remaining thirteen districts had less than ten in average daily at- tendance, or only 4 per cent of the average daily attendance of the seven- enty-five districts. So we might say that only 4 per cent of the children in these sev- enty-flve districts live in districts where the schools might be poor because of the very small number of children in the districts, while 80 per cent of the average daily attendance was found in thirty-seven districts, each of which had more than twenty pupils in average daily attendance throughout the eight years. The per cent of attendance of each of these four groups is nearly the same, being 53 per cent, 51 per cent, 5 6 per cent and 52 per cent, respec- tively. The number of pupils in the district does not seem to materially affect the average daily attendance in this county. TABLE VI. The Enrollment, Average Daily Attendance, rollment in Average Daily Attendance. and the Per Cent of the En- An Eight-Year Average. Las Animas County. Districts that had thirty or more Districts that had an average pupils in average daily attendance, daily attendance of betv^een ten and twenty pupils. 0) Q <" H el cs g "S ^ =" O . " 0) -a f£\ t-, d " a> -a a (4-1 > Ci 0 -t-> er Cen ent in aily A o -4-J S o er Cen ent in aily A a H i 20 and 30. Bet"ween 19 26 1 29 1 29 62 1 29 39 1 28 78 1 28 90 1 28 91 1 2S 101 1 28 22 1 27 51 1 27 55 1 27 83 1 27 17 1 26 47 1 26 85 1 26 61 25 13 1 24 14 1 24 24 1 23 1 ^2 35 1 22 ■ 103 1 23 9 1 21 74 1 21 100 1 21 104 21 66 30 27 679 = 19% Between 10 and 20. 31 19 107 19 30 18 3 17 31 17 79 17 88 17 2 16 69 16 77 16 81 16 **% 15 44 15 68 15 99 15 12 14 45 14 54 14 73 14 103 14 82 11 21 329 = 9% t >-'^ a & Average School Census 2,184 Average Enrollment ,3 8G Average Dailu Attendance. 3Z0 Total E/g-hth Grade Graduates Which was \5%of Enrollment. kkikik ■■Did not ^ra-dua.te. CD Gra.daa.ted Fig. IV. shows the average census for each ol these districts for the whole period covered by the survey. These districts had 35 per cent of the average enrollment of the 87 districts, and yet none of these children COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE 8CM00LS, 33 witnessed an eighth-grade graduation in their districts in eight years. This poor result was not because of extremely small schools, for no dis- trict in this group had less than twelve childrr.n of school age each year — the average for the thirty-nine districts being twenty-five, while the average daily attendance w;as eighteen — showing that they did go to school; it is reasonable to presume, too, that all were eligible to attend these schools, since none of the districts reported a graduate. Fig. IV. YUMA COUNTY Third Class Districts that had No Eighth Grade Graduat es in Ei^ht Years (1906-1913) Showing Census of Dists. Olst No 84. 55. 28. le. 10 0. 88. 7 9. 2 6. 19. 2 9. 63. 4 8 6 1 I. 6S. 6 6. 9S 2 1. 38. 13. 45. 17. 32. 67. 68. S9. 8 7. 6. 34. 22. 10. 42- 7 7. 8 0. 5. 3. 3 7. 62. 57. 69 ■ J9 38 I 36 35 I 33 3Z I 30 29 27 27 Its 2-5 I 2 I 23 I 21 20 kkkki » 79,6 65 Were Spent in These Districts 1012. Bows and Girls tmam 25 Not a Pupil Graduated * from the Eighth Grade. Carrying the investigation further, the following facts are discov- ered: There were 249 teachers employed in these districts during these ii COLORADO Adh'ICliLTURAL COLLEGE, eight years. There were 41 men and 208 women — the men receiving $44 and the women $41 per month; the average length of term was 101 days; the average special tax levy voted hy the people themselves for the sup- port of their schools was 12.68 mills on a one-third cash valuation, and Fig. V. LAS ANIMAS COUNTY. 75 Third Class Districts. An Ei^ht Year5urveL| 1906-1913 Incliisive. Averag^e Enrollment 4,32 9 ■ Did Not Gra.du.sL'te Gfradua-tecf. kX±±k±lA with 1012 children of school age in these districts, with 249 teachers em- ployed to educate them, with 117 school directors to assist, after eight years' trial and with the expenditure of $76,665, still not one pupil fin- ished the elementary course. This ought to be sufficient evidence that something is wrong somewhere in the school system. But before pass- COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 35 ing judgment upon these thirty-nine districts, it may be well to consider the remaining forty-eight, each of which had one or more graduates in the eight years. The first forty-eight districts in Fig. III. also shows the districts with the graduates, and those who were eligible but did not graduate. By comparing the two parts of Fig. III., it will be seen that the only apparent difference between the thirty-nine districts that had no grad- uates, and sixteen of those that did, is one graduate, for that number had but one in eight years. Nine more had but two in that time, while the first two districts at the head of the list, with an average census of only 17 per cent of the total census, graduated 55 per cent of those who com- pleted the course. So it would appear that eighth grade graduation was not taken as a very serious matter in eighty-one of these eighty-seven districts, for this number averaged less than one graduate a year. The total number of graduates was 320. The average enrollment for eight years was 2184 annually, and 18 64 did not complete the course who were eligible to do so. Fifteen per cent finished, while 85 per cent did not. Fig. V. displays these facts for the seventy-five districts in Las Ani- mas county, where conditions seem to be even worse. Here forty-one, or more than half, of the districts in the county, had no graduates in eight years. Fig. VI. shows these facts for the forty-one districts referred to. They had an aggregate average census of 1913 children annually for eight years, not one of whom reached the goal set by our school system. Three hundred twenty teachers were employed in these districts during this period; the average term was 12 5 days; the average special tax levy was 5.6 mills, while the enormous sum of $139,518 was spent for edu- cation in the forty-one districts, and according to the records, not a child was prepared for high school entrance, or anything else requiring as much as an elementary education. Taking all the seventy-five third class districts of the county, we find that but 6 per cent of the enrollment grad- uated from the eighth grade. Ninety-four per cent of those who entered the schools did not secure an elementary education in the time allotted for that purpose. It is plain from the record that these districts were strong, both with respect to the number of children in the districts, and the per capita wealth as shown by the assessed valuation of the districts, and it these schools were inefficient it was not because of lack of children or for lack of funds with which to conduct their schools, for no district had fewer than twelve children, the average being fifty-six, while the special tax levy was only 5.06 mills, leaving 10.14 mills that might have been voted, and the money thus raised could have been used in making the schools more efficient. In this county alone, out of an average enrollment of 4329, but 357 completed the course, while 3972 boys and girls, all des- tined to be citizens of the state, did not get an elementary education in 36 COLORADO AGKIVULTUUAL VOLLEOE, the only schools maintained for that purpose. This is a terrible indict- ment to make against the public schools, and yet this is exactly what the records show. It was previously stated that this county has a large for- eign element among its population, and there may be other serious dif- ficulties in the way of educating these children, but the records show that Fig. VI. ir No 12 5. f5 23. Z5. 69. 64 22. 74. 10. 45. 34. 58: 2. 76. 9. 60. 66. 24. 52. 27. 38. 44. 49. 26 37. 39 7? 19. 36. 4?. 70 79 31. 39. 75. 35. 80. 65. 7 1. 78. Av. / LAS ANIMAS COUNTY Third Class Districts tfiat had No Eighth Grade Graduates 1 Ei^ht Years (1906-1913) Showing Census of Dists. i ^ i ^ 1 ^Sj: »I39,5I8 ■JJ^Jig^ These 41 Districts paid out t/i/s ^^H 1^ enormoiLS sum and not a. child Wera^e Census the children are there and that they are not being educated for the daily duties of life and intelligent citizenship. All the counties of the state make a miserably low showing on the COLORADO RURAL ATSID VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 37 item of eighth grade graduates. Figs. VII. and VIII. show the per cent of the enrollment and average daily attendance that graduated in the eight years. Fig. VII. COLORADO RURAL 5CH00LS. 1725 Third Class Districts. An Eight Year Survey 1906-1913 Inclusive. Average Enrollment. 64,385 ■■ Did Not Gradua.te. ki^kk Gru-du-iLted. Table VIII. shows the total graduates and the per cent of the en- rollment who graduated from each of the sixty counties in Colorado. From this we can see that the average enrollment for the 1725 districts was 64,385, while but 14,559 completed the course during the time in which th» gr«at majority should have done so. 38 COLORADO AQRiarjLTORAL COLLEGE, Fig. VIII. COLORADO RURAL SCHOOLS. I 725 Third Class Districts. An Eight Year Surveu 1906-1913 Inclusive. Average Dailij Attendance. 2)9,5L19 M DiJ tiot Grra.dua.te. Graduated. kf^kkk There were 3 9,219 children In average daily attendance during these eight years, and of this number who took advantage of all that the schools had to offer, 24,660 did not finish the course in the time allotted for that purpose. Twenty-four thousand six hundred sixty is here marked "EXHIBIT C" and constitutes the third great loss to he recorded against our system of rural schools. It is now possible to summarize on these four items, the census, en- rollment, average daily attendancp, and eighth grade graduates for all VOLORAUO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 39 the rural and village schools of the state. The 82,174 rural school chil- dren of Colorado fall into four groups, as follows: 17,789 represents that part of the census which did not enroll at all. 25,166 represents the number absent all of the time on account of irregular attendance. 24,660 represents that part of the average daily attendance, who, although they were present on the average all of the time, still they did not finish. 14,559 represents the "Finished Products," the eighth grade grad- uates, and this was but 22 per cent of the average enroll- ment. 82,174 TOTAL. TABLE VIII. The Average Enrollment, Total Eighth Grade Graduates, Per Cent of En- rollment Graduated, and Number Who Did Not Graduate in All the Counties. An Eight- Year Average and Summary. County. Enrollment. Eighth Grade Graduates. 13 O 3 u d P4 a 49% Number Who Did Not Graduate. CLEAR CREEK 432 307 315 HINSDALE 138 63 46% 76 DOUGLAS 690 299 j ^0 43% 40% 36% 35% 391 DOLORES 127 77 ARAPAHOE 1,083 639 396 687 EAGLE 235 414 BENT 541 183 34% 359 JEFFERSON 1,474 758 441 34% 34% 1,033 PHILLIPS 260 122~ 498 SUMMIT 363 34% 33% 241 BOULDER 3,163 475 705 1,458 RIO BLANCO 158 33% 317 GILPIN 570 335 180 33% 390 GRAND 103 31% 31% 31% 31% 31% 30% 30% 323 MESA 3,183 687 1,495 OURAY 383 130 363 SAN MIffUEL 373 665 1,535 388 114 258 SEDGWICK 305 460 ADAMS MINERAL 435 83 1,100 306 TELLER 367 80 30% 30% 28% 187 WELD 6,039 1,399 1,660 409 4,379 DELTA 990 4(1 COLORADO AGlilCbLTURAL OOLLEGE, TABLE VIII. — Continued. County. d a 1 1,037 1,309 5 OS HO O 3 ■O u d m u P..O 1 28% 1 27% No. whO' did Not Graduate. MONTROSE 288 354 749 GARFIELD ^955 PROWERS 1,640 745 T90 734 1,249 1,679 420 1 26% 1 25% 1 25% 1 24% y 23% 1 23%' 1 23% 1 ' 23% 1 22% 1 22% 1 22% 1,220 CHEYENNE 184 561 JACKSON 47 143 MORGAN 179 555 ELBERT 288 961 OTERO 1,295 PITKIN 311 818 1,760 ~ ^10 2,393 378 876 70 185 397 133 524 241 SAGUACHE . ." 633 EL PASO 1,363 KIOWA 477 LARIMER 1,869 296 691 PARK GUNNISON 82 185 345 167 1 22% r 21 % 1 21% 1 21% 1' "21 % 1 20% r 2o% 20% 20% 19% 18% 17% KIT CARSON MONTEZUMA 1,652 807 1,381 1,307 640 1,089 1,077 996 269 PUEBLO 292 272 249 65 LA PLATA 1,349 1^245^ 334 1,28T LINCOLN *MOPPAT WASHINGTON 249 1,032 FREMONT 1,295 248 230 1,047 LOGAN 1,254 1,024 RIO GRANDE 604 398 2,184 427 103 6.3 62^ r82^ 69^ 127 142 3r i5T 501 BACA 1 16% 15% 14% 14% 13%' 13% 12% 9% 7% 7% " 335 YUMA CUSTER 1,864 365 ROUTT 1,307 1 457 987 1,429 326 i 2,127 373 1,125 CHAFFEE COSTILLA CONEJOS 388 860 1,287 295 1,970 *CROWLEY HUERFANO ARCHULETA 26 347 LAKE 223 1 12 6% 6_%^ 211 LAS ANIMAS Total 4,329 1 64,385 1 257 14,559 4,072 49,826 Average 22% ♦Crowley, Moffat and Jackson counties were organized during these eight years and reported for two, three and four years, respectively. COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE HVHOOLH, 41 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE SCHOOLS OF LAS ANIMAS COUNTY, COLO. SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 5. Census Enroll- ment Av'ge Daily At- tend- ance Eighth Grade Grad- uates Teachers Year Male Fe- male Term Days 1906 116 ^150 129 113 63 65 65 43 32 1 160 1907 27 41 - .— 160 i9d8~. . . . . . . .'. . . . 140 1909 27 120 1910 123 96 40 160 1911 126 40 32 120 1912 117 62 48 126 1913 113 93 56 2 140 Total 987 527 303 1 8 1,126 Average 123 66 38 141 54% of the census enrolled. 58% of the enrollment were In average daily attendance. Not one of those enrolled graduated from the eighth grade. The average census In this district was 12 3 each year of the eight. Only one teacher was employed for the first seven years, yet there were enough pupils in the district of school age to give three teachers all they could do. The average enrollment was large enough to make heavy work for two teachers. NOTE: These forms were used In collecting the data for each district. Salaries Assessed Valuation District Special Tax Mills No. of Build- ings Value Sites and Buildings Total Cost of School Year Male Fe- male 1906 $50 $ $ 139,994 3 $ 6,300 $ 1,313 1907 50 55 139,994 129,584 3 4 6,300 1,783 1908 6,300 2,343 1909 55 122,225 lO 6,300 3,036 1910 55 131,399 2 6,300 978 1911 55 120,190 10 1 6,300 1,854 1913 60 122,894 3 1 6,300 1,665 1913 60 120,759 8 2 6,300 1,327 Total .... $50 $390 $1,027,039 43 $50,400 $14,299 Average . . $50 $56 $ 128,380 5.38 $ 6,300 $ 1,787 $14,299 were spent and yet there were no graduates. $51 represents the investment in sites and buildings per census pupil. 42 COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. $16,638 Amount that could have been raised hy special tax. (Max. 16.2 mills. $ 5,420 Amount that was raised by special tax. $11,218 Unused resources for maintenance. $ 4,493 Amount that could have been raised for sites and buildings, (ilaximum 3.5 per cent.) ? 6,300 Present value of sites and buildings. (1913 value.) ? 1,807 Excess of present value over bonding ability during these eight years. The people in this district only used one-third of their available re- sources for maintaining a school. EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OP THE SCHOOLS OF LAS ANIMAS COUNTY, COLO. SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 12. Census Enroll- ment 51 Av'ge Daily At- tend- ance Eighth Grade Grad- uates Teachers Year Fe- Male male 1 i Term Days 1906 131 19 160 1907 138 65 23 1 1 200 1908 145 87 40 1 200 1909 164 98 31 2 200 1910 157 94 21 2 180 1911 156 86 44 2 180 1912 142 89 47 2 180 1913 157 91 65 2 180 Total ' 1,190 661 290 o 13 1 1,480 Average 149 83 26 2 185 56% of the census enrolled. 31% of the enrollment were in average daily attendance. Not one of those enrolled graduated from the eighth grade. An average of sixty-six children of school age did not enroll each of the eight years. This was enough to require the services of two teachers. More than two-thirds of those who did enroll were out of school on an average all of the time. Of the twenty-six who were in average daily attendance, not one fin- ished the eighth grade. COLORADO ItURAL A\D \ ILLAHE HGUOOLH, ■i:; Salaries Assessed Valuation District Special Tax Mills No. of Build- ings 1 Value Sites and Buildings Total Cost of School Year Male Fe- male 1906 $60 $ 163,997 1 $ 1,540 $ 707 1907 60 163,997 5 1 1,550 1,990 1908 55 196,435 1 1,855 1,449 1909 62 191,436 2 2 3,375 1,341 1910 70 157,664 2 2 2,375 1,193 1911 62 303,715 2.5 2 3 2,375 5,120 1,263 1912 63 317,009 3.5 1,248 1913 Total . . 67 499 314,397 $1,508,650 188,581 4 r9 3.38 13 2 1,070 $18,260 3,383 1,293 $10,483 Average. 63 1,310 $15 represfnis the investment in sites and buildings pei* census paiil. $23,440 Amount that could have been raised by special tax. $ 3,583 Amount that was raised by special tax. $19,857 Unused resources for maintenance. $ 6,600 Amount that could have been raised for sites and buildings. $ 1,070 Present value of sites and buildings. $ 5,530 Unused resources for building. This district spent $10,4 83 and no pupil finished the eighth grade. The people in this district did not use one-eighth of the funds that they might have raised for running their school. EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE SCHOOLS OF LAS ANIMAS COUNTY, COLO. SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 23. Census Enroll- ment 43 Av'ge Daily At- tend- ance ^3 Eighth Grade Grad- uates Teachers Year Fe- Male male Term Days 1906 61 1 100 1907 58 48 18 1 140 1908 103 50 33 1 114 1909 117 43 18 1 90 1910 130 185 51 ^13 31 1 130 1911 ..••-. 33 1 160 1912 65 48 30 1 160 1913 61 769 49 375 47 23 189 24 6 1 3 5 160 Total 1,044 Average 96 131 49% of the census enrolled. 50% of the enrollment were in average daily attendance. Not one of those enrolled graduated from the eighth grade. There were enough children in this district each of the eight years to justify the employment of three teachers, yet only one was employed. COLORADO AORICOLTVUAL COLLEOB, 1 Salaries { | Total Year Male Fe- Valuation Tax Build- Sites and male District Mills ings Buildings Cost of School 1906 . . . $50 $ 20,020 3 1 $ 418 $ 369 1907 .. . . . $50 20,020 4 1 417 440 1908 . . . 50 26,280 4 1 1,034 376 1909 . . . 45 26,010 4 1 1,037 301 1910 .. . 65 29,189 5 1 350 505 1911 .. . 65 31,793 4 1 325 689 1912 .. . 65 45,765 2 1 575 603 1913 .. . Total . . . . 165 55 65 36,696 ] 7 1 325 290 $235,772 | 33 8 $4,481 610 $3,893 Average 58 29,471 1 4.12 1 560 487 ?6 represents the investment in sites and buildings per census pupil. $3,819 Amount that could have been raised by special tax. $ 972 Amount that was raised by special tax. $2,847 Unused resources for maintenance. $1,032 Amount that could have been raised for sites and buildings. $ 325 Present value of sites and buildings. $ 707 Unused resources for building. This district used but one-fourth of its available resources for main- tenance, and the investment in sites and buildings was but $6 per census pupil. EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE SCHOOLS OF HUERFANO COUNTY, COLO. SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 8. Census [ Enroll- ment Av'ge Daily At- tend- ance Eighth Grade Grad- uates Teachers Year Male Fe- male Term Days 1906 165 46 23 140 1907 162 47 25 140 1908 166 51 34 •1 120 1909 173 55 25 140 1910 184 63 40 140 1911 184 60 67 67~ 456 57 24 ^6 - --- 130 1912 181 182 1,397 174 32 30 233 29^ 140 1913 116 Total Average 8 iT 1,066 133^ 33% of the census enrolled. 51% of the enrollment were in average daily attendance. Not one of those enrolled graduated from the eighth grade. 1-3 of those of school age enrolled. % of enrollment were present each day. 1 out of 6 of those of school age were in school each day. OOLOBADO BUBAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 46 One hundred seventeen children of school age did not enroll at all each of the eight years. Salaries Assessed Valuation District Special Tax Mills No. of Build- ings Value Sites and Buildings Total Cost of School Year Male Fe- male 1906 $65 $ 17,365 1 $ 1,530 $ 572 1907 65 17,204 2 1,530 509 1908 60 12,698 2 1,530 403 1909 70 13,936 2 1,530 507 1910 70 2 1,530 548 1911 65 2-1,702 2 1,525 400 1912 75 21,636 2 1,525 626 1913 75 57,134 1,230 528 Total $470 $ 162,675 13 8 $11,930 $ 4,093 Average . . 67 20,334 2 1 1,491 512 $8 represents the investment in sites and buildings per census pupil. $2,635 Amount that could have been raised by special tax. $ 2 64 Amount that was raised by special tax. $2,371 Unused resources for maintenance. $ 711 Amount that could have been raised for sites and buildings. $1,230 Present value of sites and buildings. $ 519 Excess of present value over bonding ability during these eight years. This district had but $8 invested in sites and buildings per census pupil, and might have raised eight times as much money as they did for the maintenance of their school. EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE COLO. SCHOOL SCHOOLS OF HUERFANO COUNTY, DISTRICT No. 33. Census Enroll- ment Av'ge Daily At- tend- ance Eighth Grade Grad- uates Teachers Year Male Fe- male Term Days 1906 160 99 46 1 180 1907 200 96 62 2 180 1908 148 90 60 2 180 1909 213 148 64 a 180 1910 200 124 40 1 2 180 1911 160 147 96 2 140 1912 152 124 80 1 180 1913 141 126 65 1 1 172 Total 1,374 954 513 1 3 11 1,392 Average 171 119 64 1 1 174 70% of the census enrolled. 54 % of the enrollment were in average daily attendance. 1 graduated out of an average enrollment of 119. 46 VOLOUADO AdHKUijyi'URAh VOLLEQJjl, Salaries | Assessed Valuation District ^ r2r,699^ Special Tax Mills No. of Build- ings Value 1 Sites and | Buildings] $ 975 1 Total Year Male Fe-' male Cost of School 1906 $70 7 $ 1,136 1907 60 122,022 105,884 5 915 1 1,597 1908 60 8 905 1 1,075 1 1,135 1909 60 99,039 12 1,159 1910 62 [ 15 1,020 1 1,591 1911 62 72,173 15 1,550 1 920 1 1,621 1912 85 70,793 14 2,622 1913 85 60 160,134 751,744 107,392 76 iT 1,275 1 8,635 1 1,079 1 1,405 Total 240 364 8 12,266 Average . . 80 60 1 1,533 $12,266 Average cost to graduate a pupil from tlie eightli grade. ^6 represents the Investment in sites and buildings per censrs pupil. $13,918 Amount that could have been raised by special tax. $ 7,947 Amount that was raised by special tax. $ 5,971 Unused resources for maintenance. $ 3,758 Amount that could have been raised for sites and buildings. $ 1,275 Present value of sites and buildings. $ 2,483 Unused resources for building. EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE SCHOOLS OP YU.MA COUNTY, COLO. SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 2. 1 1 1 AVge 1 1 1 1 Daily Eighth Teachers 1 1 At (T-rTflp 1 1 Enroll- tend- Grad- | | Fe- Term Year | Census ] meat ance nates | Male | male Days 1906 1 240 1 235 | 57 | 11 1 6 180 1907 1 244 1 204 j 188 | 25 | 1 6 180 1908 1 271 1 1 120 1 22 1 5 18C 1909 1 299 1 234 | 200 23 | 5 igQ 1910 162 j 264 1 192 | 5 jqq 1911 1 255 1 256 | 19 | 7 jgo 1912 283 273 j 168 | 26 | 7 180~~ 1913 1 358 1 290 1 240 1 11 1 m too Total 1 2,112 [1,756 |1,358 |137 | 2 51 1,346 Average | 264 j 250 169 j | g 168 95% of the census enrolled. 68 % of the enrollment were in average daily attendance. 55% of the enrollment graduated from the eighth grade. This district is in one of the counties that made a very poor show- ing on most all items, yet it is one of the most efficient third class dis- tricts in all respects that can be found in the state — as shown by the rec- ords. COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 47 Salaries Assessed Valuation District Special Tax ' Mills No. of Build- ings Value Sites and Buildings Total Cost of School Year Male Fe- male 1906 $85 $50 $ 209,563 15 1 $ 3,200 $ 4,226 1907 100 50 318,528 15 2 3,308 4,506 1908 62 248,728 15 1 4,735 3,827 1909 66 242,072 15 3 4,335 3,941 1910 63 280,000 7 2 10,000 4,057 1911 55 258,806 7 3 6,175 8,364 1913 ..... 65 298,600 15 3 6,175 5,562 1913 63 301,621 15 2 6,000 5,714 Total $185 $474 $2,057,918 104 $43,808 $40,197 Average . . 92 59 257,239 13 5,476 5,024 $2 93 Average cost to graduate a pupil from the eighth grade. $20 represents the investment in sites and huildinge per census pupil. $33,338 Amount that could have heen raised by special tax. $26,752 Amount that was raised by special tax. $ 6,586 Unused resources for maintenance. $ 9,000 Amount that could have been raised for sites and buildings. $ 6,000 Present value of sites and buildings. $ 3,000 Unused resources for building. LENGTH OF SCHOOL TERM. Passing from the first four topics, in all of which the school children were considered in their various relations to the school, it will be of in- terest now to consider some of the other parts of the school system to see if anything can be discovered to help account for the low enrollment, poor attendance and unmistakable evidence of general inefficiency clearly proven by the facts and figures already given. The length of term, or school year, certainly bears a close relation to the efficiency of the schools. The different districts, counties and the state, taken as a whole, make a better showing on this item than was expected before the survey was completed, although the averages for many districts, and most of the counties was far below what it should have been. There were quite a number of districts in which the length of term was far too short to expect any serioiis work, or for the pupils to make even a good start on a year's work, while in others it would be impossible for them to make a grade under the given conditions in these schools, still the total number of children affected in all such districts was comparatively small when compared to the census of the 1725 dis- tricts. The same was true, and it was so stated, with regard to the cen- sus, enrollment and average dally lattendance in the districts having but few children. At the present time Colorado has a minimum term law. 48 COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, requiring a term of not less than 120 days of school in each district, but there was no such law in force during these eight years. Table IX. shows the average number of days of school in each county during the entire time covered by the survey. From this we can divide all the counties into four groups, as follows: Those having an average of 160 days of school or more; those hav- ing between 140 and 160; those between 120 and 140; and those having less than 120, the minimum now required by law. The figures showing the number of children affected in each i^roup are here given. TABLE IX. Days of School — Tne Counties Are Arranged According to Highest Average for Bight Years. County. Days. County. Days. 160 Days or More. 140-160 (Continued.) CROWLEY 167 LAS ANIMAS 141 WELD 167 PUEBLO 141 MORGAN 166 GARFIELD 140 ADAMS 165 MONTROSE 140 ARAPAHOE . 160 RIO GRANDE 140 Between 140 and 160. BOULDER 158 CLEAR CREEK 157 OURAY 155 PITKIN 155 LAKE 154 MESA 154 BENT 153 OTERO 153 EAGLE 152 CHEYENNE 151 PARK 150 TELLER 150 GILPIN 149 DELTA 148 EL PASO .148 LARIMER 147 CHAFFEE 146 GUNNISON 146 SAN MIGUEL 146 FREMONT 145 JEFFERSON 144 PHILLIPS 144 LINCOLN 142 MINERAL 142 DOUGLAS 141 JACKSON 141 Between 120 and 140. RIO BLANCO 13S SAGUACHE 139 ARCHULETA 13r LA PLATA 137 PROWERS 135 LOGAN 137 MOFFAT 137 KIOWA 134 MONTEZUMA 133 COSTILLA 131 SEDGWICK 131 DOLORES 129 HUERFANO 128 ELBERT 126 HINSDALE 126 KIT CARSON 128 ROUTT 125 SUMMIT 122 CONEJOS 121 GRAND 121 Less Than 120. WASHINGTON 115 YUMA 114 CUSTER Ill BACA 98 12,240, or 15 per cent of tjie census, were in counties having 160 or more days of school each of the eight years. 40,439, or 48 per cent were in counties with between 140 and 160 days each. 23,785, or 29 per cent were in counties having between 130 and 140 days each. COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 49 5,710, or 8 per cent were in counties having an annual term of Ifcs than 120 days of school each year. 82,174 TOTAL. Five counties had 160 days or more. Thirty had betweeen 140 and 160. Twenty-one had between 120 and 140. Five had less than 120 days each year, and only 8 per cent of the children were in these counties. Ninety-two per cent of the children lived in counties where the average length of term was considerably in excess of that required by law at the present time. It is conceded that a multitude of sins may be covered up under the guise of county averages, but after examining all of the facts available on this item, it must be admitted that the great majority of these children lived in districts and attended schools where the term was eight and nine months. The average for the 172 5 districts was 140 days, or seven months, and if all these districts were examined for the year 1913, the last one included in the survey, a still smaller number of children would be affected. This minimum term law is a good one as tar as it goes, and it will do much good, for now no district can maintain a school for less than six months, but it does not apply to districts where 92 per cent of the chil- dren were found on an eight-year average. As the courses are now ar- ranged, it Is quite generally agreed that these schools should all have a full nine months' term each year, but on the basis of part school and part work, where the work is used for instruction, the school attendance might be less than nine months. However, it is certain that if one or two more months were added to the school year, country children would have a far better chance to compete with city children in acquiring an education, and could make much better progress in their passing from grade to grade, but after all, length of term is only one of the things needed to increase the eflRciency of these schools, and there are changes needed even more important and fundamental than that — ^as important as it is — some of which will be mentioned later. Some ridiculous examples could be given, as where the district prev- iously referred to as having only three children in eight years, also had but sixty days of school in the whole eight years, but such cases have but little influence on average conditions. SPECIAL SCHOOL TAXES AND REVENUES. There should always be, and usually is, a very close relationship be- tween the cost of a school and its eflBciency. Money will provide many of the things necessary to make a good school, and increased cost is one of the strongest arguments raised against rural school improvement, for Id the last analysis almost all opposition resolves itself into a question of cost. Opposition to paying taxes is proverbial, and when in trying to suggest improvements in rural schools, the question of cost is raised. 50 COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, as it invariably Is, it is very common for people to take the attitude tbat the school tax constitutes a large, if not the largest, share of their taxes. School revenues in Colorado come mainly from three sources, the state, the county and the school district — a very good arrangement when the proportions are right, but unfortunately in Colorado, too large a part of the burden for supporting the schools by taxation, and practically all the responsibility of organization and administration of the schools falls upon the small unit, the district, which, of the three is least able to pro- vide the things necessary for an efficient system of schools. In fact it cannot do so of itself. In considering the cost of schools, it is very common to think of the total amount paid out without thinking of the number of children who shared in the expense, or the cost per capita, which is rarely excessive in Colorado, especially when we think of the interests at stake. At the present time all taxable property is assessed on the basis of the full cash value, but during the years 190 6-1913 it was taxed on one-third of its cash value, and in some counties this third sometimes dwindled to a fifth, and it is believed that many persons who had $10,000.00 worth of assessable property paid taxes on not more than $2,000.00 or in that proportion. During the first six years covered by this survey, the legal limit for the special district tax for school purposes was 15 mills, while for the last two of the eight years the limit was 20 mills. So we may say that the average tax allowed by law in all school districts of the third class was 16.2 mills each year, and whatever it was, it was levied on not more than a one-third cash valuation, and frequently much less than that. Districts having schools that are inefficient because the people failed to vote sufficient taxes to provide the things necessary for good schools, are much more common than those having poor schools because of the small number of children in the district or in attendance. There are many cases where for a single year, and in some oases two or more years in succession, where the people in the district voted no special school tax at all — and the scarcity of funds is not due to the poverty of the districts or of the people in them, nor the limitations made by law, but to the failure of a majority of the people themselves in not making their re- sources available for use by voting a school tax sufficiently large to pro- vide the things necessary for good schools. The evidence on this point is so convincing and so conclusive that there is no doubt about it. The figures submitted prove it. Table X. exhibits the special tax levies of all the counties investi- gated, except two, in which this item was not secured. This is an eight- year average for each county, and represents the amount that the peo- ple in each county voluntarily taxed themselves for the support of their schools and the education of their children in them. In addition to the special tax levied by the people in each district, the county commission- ers in all counties may, and in most cases they do, levy a small tax on all the property of the county as a general school tax, but this, which COLORADO lit HAIj AND \ I LLMiE SCHOOLS, 51 is levied for the education of children, is but a fraction of the amount levied by the same body for the repair of roads and bridges within the county. TABLE X. Special Tax Levy in Each County. — An Eight-Year Average. County. Mills. County. 10 Wills or Over. MESA 13.21 LINCOLN 12.7 YUMA 12.6fc DELTA 11.61 CROWLEY 10.7 GARFIELD 10.54 DOLORES 10.35 MONTROSE lO.S JIONTEZUMA 10.07 Between 8 and 10 Mills. FREMONT HINSDALE CLEAR CREEK SEDGWICK WELD PROWERS TELLER WASHINGTON CUSTER MOnGAN CONEJOS GILPIN KIOWA LOGAN KIT CARSON OURAY LA PLATA OTERO 9.89 9.8 9.76 9.75 9.7 9.65 9.5 9.48 9.21 9.19 9.19 9.1 9.1 8.75 8.7 8.6 8.5 8.13 Between 5 and 8 Mills. CHAFFEE 7.94 EAGLE 7.94 PHILLIPS 7.86 E'DBERT 7.81 Between 5 and BOULDER . . . HUERFANO . . EL PASO MOFFAT . . . . BENT MINERAL . . . ARAPAHOE . . GUNNISON . . . RIO GRANDE . PUEBLO COSTILLA . . LARIMER . . . JEFFERSON . ROUTT LAS ANIMAS . ADAMS ARCHULETA . SAX MIGUEL . RIO BLANCO . SAGUACHE . . BACA PARK Mills. S mills (continued). 7.73 7.65 7.65 7.6 7.6 7.58 7.51 7.4 7.4 7.44 7.43 7.1 6.8 6.35 6.14 6.06 5.85 5.57 5.55 5.45 5.2 5. Less Than 5 Mills. SUMMIT 4.96 DOUGLAS . . 4.44 JACKSON 4.4 GRAND 3.7 LAKE 3.56 *CHEYBNNE *PITKIN AVERAGE 8.08 *This item was not secured in these counties. The third class districts in no county in Colorado during t^ese eight years made use of more than 80 per cent of their resources allowed by the special district tax, taking all these districts in each county as a whole, while only five of the sixty counties levied 1 per cent or more, and this amount was assessed on a one-third valuation and would amount to only about three or four mills on the dollar of a full valuation. It is difficult to figure how such a tax could be oppressive on the average tax- payer, especially if this tax were uniform throughout an entire county, Which it is not. But taking these five counties where the average was 52 COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGM, the highest, it amounts to less than five mills on a fair valuation. This is ONli-HALF OF ONE PER CENT raised with'n the district for th? education of the children, and in most cases it provides the text-books free to the children. The average tor the sixty counties and 1725 districts was only 8.08 mills, which means that the rural and village schools of Colorado used but 50 per cent of their available resources during these eight years. Of course, many of the most efficient schools levied near the legal limit for the whole period and some would have willingly levied more, if they could have done so, but the great majority of the districts did not do it. Ihe county having the highest average levied a special tax of 13.21 mills, while the one having the lowest was 3.5 6, which means that one county paid 300 per cent more than the other, and presumably for the same thing. 'While there is such a wide variation between the counties, still the difference between the different districts within the same county is often much greater. Sometimes the farmers in one locality will pay five times as high a rate of school tax as a neighboring community under almost exactly the same conditions, often due to the mere accidents of fortune over which the people themselves had no control, as in the case of a large railroad mileage in one district, and none, or little, in the ether, and many times the low school taxes are not due to as just causes as the case above cited. It is often due to the active opposition of cer- tain taxpayers who either do not appreciate ■"he value of education, or for various other reasons, do not want to pay a school tax. It will re- quire more money to improve the rural schools of Colorado, or else the n.oney now spent must be spent to a m'lch better advantage. It is not at all uncommon to find country school districts surrounding towns and cities located in first and second class school districts where the country people tax themselves one, two, or three mills on the dollar, while the city people levy 20 mills or more. Both are buying, or trying to buy, education for their children. Either one is paying an enormous price, or the other is getting an inferior article. On the average, the first and second class districts are paying more than twice as much for the support of their schools as are the third class districts that immediately surround them, yet the country and city dweller buy their commodities and sup- plies at the same stores and pay exactly the same prices for them. Why shouldn't they pay the same for education? If a uniform tax as high as that now levied by first and second class districts were levied on all the third class districts in most of the coun- ties, the money thus raised, in excess of what is now raised, would be Sufficient to buy as good equipment as now used by the city schools and in addition, would pay the county superintendent the same salary as is paid the city superintendent, would pay country teachers the same sal- aries for the same grade of work as is paid city teachers; it would em- ploy the same number of special teachers for special subjects to work throughout the county, and a sufficient number of county supervisors to adequately supervise and make effective the work in all the rural schools within the county. This statement is not made at random and without the facts in the case, but it can be demonstrated in most of the counties OOLOHADO liUHAL AND VlhhAdM HGEOOLU, 63 Weld county is the largest county in the state in area, and has more teachers, more children, and more school districts than any other of the sixty counties considered in this survey. The average assessed valua- iation for eight years of the 107 third class school districts in that county Was $3,173,587. The average special school tax levied on all these dis- tricts during the same period was 9.7 mills on the dollar. This rate would yield $30,783 each year on the above valuation. Weld county had, during this period, one first and two second class school districts. The average special tax levy in the three for the same eight years was 16 mills. The difference between the special school tax in these three dis- tricts and that in the 107 country districts was 6.3 mills. This would produce $20,000 when computed on the assessed valuation given above. This amount would add $1000 to the salary of the county superintendent, making it $3000 instead of $2000, as it is at present. It would employ a county supervisor of elementary agriculture, to organize this work in all the schools of this county. It would provide the salary for a county supervisor of cooking and sewing and the domestic arts. It would pro- vide the salary for a county supervisor of primary work; a county super- visor of penmanship and drawing; a county supervisor of music, and a county supervisor of reading. The following salaries could be paid: Supervisor of agriculture, salary and expenses. ... $2200 Supervisor of domestic arts, salary and expenses.. 1,800 Supervisor of primary work, salary and expenses. . . 1,500 Supervisor of penmanship, salary and expenses. . . 1,500 Supervisor of music, salary and expenses 1,500 Supervisor of reading, salary and expenses 1,500 Added to salary of county superintendent 1,000 $11,000 The remainder of $9,000 would add enough to the salary of every teacher in the 107 districts to equal the amount paid the teachers in the three districts above. This could be done, and the country people of this wealthy and prosperous county would pay no higher school tax than the good citizens of Greeley, Baton, and Windsor, all in the same county. The country people paid only 60 per cent as high a rate of school tax as did those of these three urban districts. Not only do the city residents pay from two to three times as much for the support of their schools as their country neighbors, but there is scarcely a word of oppo- sition to school taxes In towns and cities, while it constitutes the chief objection to school improvement In the country. There Is one county in Colorado in which there are twenty-five third class school districts, no two of which paid the same average rate of school tax during these eight years. The district having the lowest eight-year average levied 2.5 mills, the one having the highest levied 13 mills. Here are two districts in the same county where the farmers in one assessed themselves five times as high, or paid five times as high a rate of tax for school purposes as did those in the other district. The 54 VOLOUAVO AU It I VUJA'U HAL COLLl/iaE, yoint is tMs, all these districts are buying education, and yet often under exactly the same conditions, no two pay the same price for it. There is good argument here for a uniform county tax for all such school dis- tricts in all these sixty counties. The eight-year aveirage for all these twenty-five districts was 7.4 mills. Now it happens that there is a sec- ond class school district in this same county that is known over a great part of the state for the high standard and efficiency of its schools. Its average special school tax for the eight-year period was 2 6 mills — the highest tax paid by any school district in Colorado. The good people of this splendid district voluntarily taxed themselves ten times as high each year of the eight, as did one third class district in the same county, while the rate paid was more than three times as high as the eight-year average for these twenty-flve third-class districts in the same county. There might be some reason for this condition if education were a purely local matter and concerned only the district in which the children live, but many people are coming to believe that it is of vital concern to the whole county and that the state and nation have a vital interest in education. For if there is any connection between the thorough edu- cation and training of men and women and their subsequent success in life, and many people believe there is, then a poor and inefficient school, in a degree at least, becomes a menace to the whole county and to the whole state. It is perfectly clear from the records of the great majority of the districts surveyed, that they have fallen far short of availing themselves of the legal limits of revenue that were available. They only used 50 per cent of their resources, and it is quite evident from what has already been said that the general efficiency of these districts was much below what it should and could have been made, and it is perfectly clear that the intelligent expenditure of more money would have increased their efficiency. That 50 per cent representing their unused resources would have provided most all the opportunities now enjqyed by city children, such as better equipment, more experienced and better trained teachers, prin- cipals and supervisors, all of which would have made it possible for these schools to have served the boys and girls better who attended them. Part of their failure could have been avoided in this way, but not all of it for there is great waste in the district system, not only waste of money but of time, effort and opportunity, and much of this waste is unavoid- able foT reasons that are well known and need not be mentioned here It is not the intention here to accuse the people of these districts of not supporting their schools by voting sufficient taxes, but to show to what extent that has been done, and compare that with what is done in some city schools. There are some grounds for argument as to just how much the farm- er should increase his taxes for the support of his schools, at least until he can have reasonable assurance that this additional expenditure of money will really add to their efficiency and that it will produce better results than that already spent. This is something that the farmer has COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 55 a right to require at the hands of teachers, principals, superintendents, and all others engaged in educational work in Colorado, and this is pre- cisely the thing that those who are entrusted with the education of the farmers' children and the management of his schools have not yet done. If they are not able to do it, or willing to try it, then the farmer cannot be blamed for the way he supports his schools. Fig. IX. Special Tax Resources and the Amount That Actuallij was Levied on an Avera^ by All Third Qass Districts in Ei^ht Years 1906-1913 Inclusive. Max-imum Levy That Mi^ht Have Been Mad< le.Z Mills. Used. □ Not Used 5 a COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, TEACHERS AND SALARIES. It is unnecessary here to discuss the importance of the teacher in the school system in general, and it is only necessary to state that in these third class districts the teacher constitutes the greater part of the system. Almost the whole responsibility for the success of the school falls upon the teacher. No help in methods of instruction or manage- ment can be expected from the patrons, for they have employed the teach- er for that purpose, and even if some were able to assist, their work is along different lines, which take all their time and energy, and in prac- tice no help comes from this source. But little, if any, help can or does come from the school board, the members of which do not claim to be educators, and the majority of whom rarely, if ever, visit the school. So the teacher can expect little help from within the district, less from the county organization, and still less from the state. Thus in actual practice the teacher stands or falls alone. We like to think that we have a splendid system of public schools included in one grand co-operative organization of district, county, and state, but such is not the case. The school system ceases at the district boundaries as far as the serious work of education is concerned, for if the teacher cannot and does not meet and overcome the difficulties and solve the problems as they arise, the school is a failure. To be sure, there is a county superintendent in each county, but there is no effective supervision of these schools, and there can be none under the present sys- tem. General school visitation by the patrons and school boards is a lost art, if it ever was in vogue, while the expert and close supervision pro- vided for in all city schools in this state is entirely lacking in the country schools. So, if under such a system but 22 per cent of the average en- rollment graduated from the eighth grade in eight years, all of the blame cannot be laid upon the teacher, for there is no person employed in this state and placed in such a difficult position as is the teacher in our rural schools — and there is no one else of whom so much is expected. It is doubtful if many, or any, of the states that still have the dis- trict unit have better educated or more successful teachers in their rural schools than has Colorado, and it is with no feeling that this state is at the foot of the list that these conditions are described. Our records give the number of teachers employed, their sex, number of months taught during the current year, and the salary of each, but they are entirely lacking on the much more important items of their education, profes- sional training and experience. So it will be necessary to supply the lat- tei- information from other sources than the survey. Many teachers come to Colorado from other states, and quite a num- ber of these are compelled to teach in country and small village schools to gain residence, obtain experience, and get acquainted in this state be- fore they can secure positions in the city schools. Some of these are well trained and experienced, and they will often teach a year or two in coun- try schools in order to establish a reputation to enable them to secure a town or city position. Then there are quite a numter of the graduates of our own colleges, universities, and teachers' college, who, finding COLORADO RUUAh AND VILLAGE HCUOOLhi, 57 themselves unable to secure a position in a graded scliool without actual school-room practice are compelled to take a country school, or none. From these and other similar sources, we are able to get many good teachers, but as a rule most all such teachers secure positions in the larg- er third class districts where the schools are located in small towns and have several teachers. Those desiring to teach who have had but a little advanced work, the high school graduates, and those with less than a high school education, whose qualifications city and town superintendents will not recognize, are forced farther and farther out into the open country. These statements are not intended to apply to any of those teachers whose qualifications are equal to the best in city systems, but who prefer to teach in our best rural schools. But it must he admitted that after all such exceptions have been made that the education, professional training and experience of the great majority of the teachers in the districts under consideration fall far short of the minimum requirements of graded schools. Practically all of this class of teachers begin their work in the country schools without any previous experience, with no professional training, with only a high school education, and very often less, while a large number of them are but lit- tle older than their oldest pupils. The great majority of our beginning teachers are bright, intelligent and resourceful young men and women, and the only thing that can be said against them is that they are lacking in education, professional training, are immature and lacking both in teaching and life experience, all of which most of them will get in due time, but they get these things by experimenting on country children, and as these records show, a very large per cent of the patients do not survive the shock of the operation. This is something that is not tol- erated under any circumstances in graded schools, but is practiced with impunity in the country. It is not sufficient to say that most of the teachers in the country schools have a fair education, and that under the circumstances they do fairly well. They should be equally as well trained for their work and the standards foi- country teachers should be just as high as is required of other teachers doing the same grade of work. There are just as good arguments for a single standard for teachers as for morals, and the country teacher should be just as well prepared for work in the rural schools as city teachers are for city schools. Probably the weakest point in the district system is the manner of selecting teachers, for since the teacher is the most important factor in the school, a mis- take in selecting a teacher is fatal to the school, and means not only a poor year's work, but often the loss of a year for all, or most all of the pupils. This is usually loss that cannot be repaired, for there is no dis- appointment so discouraging and disheartening for school children as re- peated failure to pass their grade. This one thing probably accounts for more children quitting school than any other, and it is most often caused by poorly trained, inexperienced, and unsuccessful teachers. Let it be said in passing that many school boards in these districts seem to be sat- isfied and content to employ teachers for the schools which their children attend, who could secure positions in no other schools. Tn computing the total number of teachers, the total number who :.8 COLORAIJI) AOHlCUL'J'UJiAL COLLI'JGIJ, were employed at one time during the year, and not tiie number of dif- ferent teachers employed, was taken. For example, if a one-teacher school employed three different teachers during the school year, but one teacher was counted, the object being to determine the number of teach- ers necessary to operate the schools. The total number of teachers employed in all these districts was 19,563, of whom 3208, or sixteen per cent were men and 16,355, or eighty-four per cent, were women. Lake county employed ninety-eight teachers in the rural schools in the eight years, all of whom were women, and no child in these schools came under the influence of a man teacher during this time, while in Las Animas county almost 35 per cent of the teachers were men, which was the largest per cent for the larger counties. Jefferson county employed 509 teachers, only 6 per cent of whom were men, while Adams county employed 43 8, only j per cent of whom were men. Table XI. shows the number of men teachers, their distribution over the eight years and throughout the thirty-five districts in Adams county, while Table XII. shows the same for the women teachers. Some of these districts employed from twenty-five to forty-six teachers in the time covered by the survey, and not a man was employed. Twenty-seven of the thirty-five districts employed no men teachers in the whole eight years. This was true of the majority of the 1725 districts, and in most of the counties the per cent was very low. Where men teachers were em- ployed, it was usually as principals in the small towns and the larger country schools, and it is quite evident from the figures given, that edu- cation has nearly ceased to be a man's job, at least in the country schools. This is said as a statement of fact, and not as a criticism upon women teachers. Many things combine to make this so. Among these may be mentioned low salary, employment for only a part of the year, the fact that teaching a country school usually leads nowhere for a man, while it is a stepping-stone to a graded school for women, and a chief reason is that the district system makes no provision for a resident teacher. So most all conditions combine to favor the employment of women, instead of men teachers. 'I'his is II liK'tliri' (tf a ini.dpl ci tin- fiivst s<■l)<^^'l )m rado. It ^va.s built in Boulder county iu ISCO. "■><.■ ever built in Colo- COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 59 TABUB XI. ADAMS COUNTY, COLORADO. Men teachers, their number and distribution over the eight years and throughout the different third class school districts. 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 Total Dist. No. 1 . 7^ " 1 ■ ~ - — — 1 1 i Dist. No. 2 . . . 1 Dist. No. 3 . . . 2 Dist. No. 4 . . . 1 1 - - — 1 1 1 1 3 Dist. No. 5 . . . 1 Dist. No. 6 . . . Dist. No. 8 . . . Dist. No. 9 . . _. Dist. No. 10. — -- Dist. No. 11. Dist. No. 14. — - - - - -- — - - Dist. No. 16. Dist. No. 20. Dist. No. 23. 1 1 Dist. No. 24. Dist. No. 26. Dist. No. 28. 1 1 1 1 1 - 1 6 Dist. No. 29. Dist. No. 30. 2 1 1 1 5 Dist. No. 31. Dist. No. 32. 2 2 Dist. No. 33. Dist. No. 34. — - - - --- Dist. No. 37. Dist. No. 38. - Dist. No. 52. Dist. No. 53. Dist. No. 56. - - - - — Dist. No. 61. ■-- Dist. No. 62. Dist. No. 71. - — Dist. No. 81. Dist. No. 95. Dist. No. 97. Dist. No. 98. 1 . . Total 2 1 1 3 6 3 1 2 3 21 Out of these thirty-five districts, only eight employed men teachers at any time during the eight years. Two of the eight districts employed one-half the men employed by the thirty-five. In twenty-seven of these districts the children did not come under the influence of a man teacher al any time during their eight-year elementary course. 60 G> OLOBADO AQBWULTURAL COLLEGE, TABLE XII. ADAMS COUNTY, COLORADO. Women teachers, their number and distribution over the eight years and throughout the different third class school districts. J 1906 1907 1908 5 1909 1910 5 5~ 1911 5^ 1912 5 1913 "5 1 1^ Total Dist. No. 1 . . 1 *3 4 37 1 1 1 1 7 ■ __ Dist. No. 3. . 1 1 1 1 *1 *1 8 1 1 *1 *1 2 *1 3 1 *3 6 1 1 1 3 Dist. No. S . . 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 Dist. No. 9 . . 2 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 18 Dist. No. 10. . 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 » 1 Dist. No. 11. . 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 Dist. No. 14. . 2 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 23 Dist. No. 16 4 1 5 6 6 6 6 8 46 Dist. No. 20. . 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 Dist. No. 23.. 1 1 1 1 *1 1 1 1 8 Dist. No. 24. . 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 Dist. No. 2 6. . 1 1 1 -*- *2 1 1 2 2 2 11 Dist. No. 28. . *2 ; *2 *2 *2 3 3 *2 18 Dist. No. 29. . 1 1 1 ' 1 2 3 3 2 3" 2 2 2 15 Dist. No. 3 0. . 1 1 1 *2 4 *3 16 Dist. No. 31. . 2 1 2 3 3 3 20 Ti^c-J- -\irt *> " 11 1 *2 4 6 7 21 1 1 2 — ^ Dist. No. 34. . 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 Dist. No. 3 7. . 1 1 1 4 Dist. No. 38. . 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 16 Dist. No. 52. . 1 1 1 1 1 8 Dist. No. 53. . 1 1 1 ^ j^ 1 ' " iT 1 8 Dist. No. 5 6. . 2 1 1 1 9 Dist. No. 61 . . 1 1 1 1 1 T 8 Dist. No. 62. . 1 1 1 1 8 Dist. No. 71. . 1 1 1 1 1 8 Dist. No. 81. . 1 1 1 2 1 1 8 Dist. No. 95. . 1 1 1 1 1 8 Dist. No. 97. . 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 1 56" 2 2 16 Dist. No. 9 S . . 2 1 2 2 1 63 1 2 16 Total 42 1 44 1 46 1 51 1 49 1 66 438 * Men teachers. The number is indicated by the number of stars. ' 95% of the teachers employed in the thirty-five districts of this county were women. .T% were men. Twenty-seven districts emploved no men teachers during the eight years. COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 61 There is a great variation in the salaries paid in the different dis- tricts and the different counties. The lowest salary found ii. any one- teacher school for a single year was $20 per month, while the highest in the same kind of school was $133 per month. Archuleta county paid women teachers a higher average salary than men teachers. Adams county paid both the same, while all others paid a higher average salary for men than women teachers. The difference in salary can probably all be accounted for because many of the men teachers were principals of schools having two or more teachers, and larger salaries are usually paid for such positions. The highest average salary for any county was $81 per month, while the lowest was $3 9 per month. The number of men ajid women teachers in each county, and the average salary for each, and for both, are given in Table XIII. The counties are divided into eight groups, according to the average salary of each. One county paid an average of $81 per month; six paid between $70 and $80; twenty paid between $60 and $70; twenty-three paid between $50 and $60; nine paid between $40 and $50, while one paid less than $40 per month for the eight years. Our present minimum term and salary law requires not less than 120 days of school, at a sal- ary of not less than $50 per month in each district. This law was not in force during these eight years. In ten counties the eight-year county average was less than now required by law. Of course, there were dis- tricts in other counties that fell below one or the other of these limits in the eight years, but not many below both the 120 days of school and $50 per month. Only one-seventh of the children of the state lived in counties where the eight-year average salary was less than $50 per month while if the average were taken for the year 1913 only, instead of for eight years, the number of children and districts affected would be much less. It is perfectly clear from the records that while a large number of teachers received low salaries, and that a large number of children lived in such districts, still it is equally clear that the great majority of the children lived in those districts where both the length of term and salary were comparatively good. This was true to such a great extent that one is led to wonder why better results were not secured for the time and money spent. The best answer seems to be that the system does not give results in proportion to the time and money spent. Most states would think most of these salaries enormously high in comparison with their salaries in such schools, and it must be admitted that very many country schools pay as high salaries as city schools for the same grade of work, and yet the results are not satisfactory in these schools; while for the sixty counties, but 22 per cent completed the course in eight years. 62 COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, TABLE XIII. TEACHERS AND SALARIES. An Eight-Year Average. TEACHERS || SALARIES 1 o COUNTY Male Femalel 1 Total 1 Male Female Average r GILPIN 32| 170| 202 1 $107 $55 $ 81.00 HINSDALE ^1 55| 64 1 $101 $44 $ 78.00 LAKE o| 98 1 98 1 $78 $ 78.00 *CROWLEY 6| 13| 19| $90 $61 $ 75.50 MINERAL 19| 26| 47| 66|| $83 $68 $ 75.50 o SUMMIT 109| 135jt $90 $60 $ 75.00 m- GUNNISON 26| 286 1 31211 $85 $58 $ 71.50 CLEAR CREEK 14 1 149| 163J1 $80 $59 $ 69.50 OURAY 21| 107| 128|| $76 $62 $ 69.00 EAGLE 28] 3311 259] [ $75 $61 $68.00 , JACKSON 9| 43| 52|| $75 $56 $ 65.50' SAN MIGUEL 111 125| 303 1 136 IJ 387|| 161 II $66 $^"8 $65 $ 65.50 LA PLATA 84| $62 $ 65.00 PITKIN 18| 143| $69 $61 $ 65.00 OTERO 75| 298 [ 373|| $72 $57 $ 64.50 DOLORES lOj 25 1 35|j $74 $54 $ 64.00 o GARFIELD 66| 56 1 363 1 42911 $70 $57 $ 63.50 MONTEZUMA 151| 207|| $68 $59 $ 63.50 PUEBLO 58| 441 499 II $72 $55 $63.50 WELD 346 1,214 1,460|| $68 $57 $62 50 FREMONT 51 1 379| 330 II $68 $74 $61.00 ADAMS 21 j 417 438 1 $60 $60 $ 60.00 CHAFFEE 19| 209 1 228 1 $63 $57 $ 60.00 DELTA 72| 277| 349 1 $62 $58 $ 60.00 MESA 160| 506 1 666 1 $63 $57 $ 60.00 RIO BLANCO 23| 1451 168 $66 $54 $ 60.00 COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCSOOLS, 63 TABLE XIII. — Continued. TEACHERS Male SALARIES COUNTY Male Female 479 Total 509 Female| Average JEFFERSON 30 $70 $48| $ 59.50 BENT 20 168 188 $66 $52| $ 59.00 AKAPAHOE 22 292 314 $65 $52| $ 58.00 BOULDER 62 541 603 $63 $53 1 $ 58.00 LAS ANIMAS 269 506 775 $60 $56| $ 58.00 PARK 31 168 199 $64 $52| $ 58.00 ARCHULETA 12 92 104 $56 $59 $ 57.50 $ 57.50 HUERFANO 98 354 452 $62 $53 TELLER 26 121 147 $59 $56| $ 57.50 SAGUACHE 57 217 274 $61 $53] $ 57.00 MONTROSE 49 252 301 $60 $54| $ 57.00 DOUGLAS 34 289 323 $63 $49| $ 56.00 © *MOFFAT 21 41 62 $58 $54 1 $ 56.00 3 ► PROWERS 75 377 452 $75 $51 $ 56.00 EL PASO 88 616 704 $57 $53 $55.00 MORGAN 30 165 195 $57 $53 $ 55.00 RIO GRANDE .... 27 168 195 $60 $50 $ 55.00 ROUTT 65 344 409 $59 $51 $ 55.00 KIOWA 48 183 176 231 277 289 7l)0 $57 $50 $ 53.50 $^ao(r COSTILLA 101 $55 $54 $51 CONEJOS 81 208 $51 $ 52.50 $5T;d(r LARIMER 121 579 $55 $47 GRAND 13 115 128 576 $57 $56 $44 $44 $45 $47 $ 50.50 $ 50.00 $ 49.50 $ 48.50 ELBERT 59 517 CUSTER 28 158 186 277 $54 $50 CHEYENNE 1 49 228 376 260 LINCOLN 69 18 445 2^8 $51 " $52 $45 $ 48.00 $48.00 $ 46.50 ? PHILLIPS $44 ii T.OGAN 54 388 442 $48 $47 $T5 $45 BACA 51 93 144 706 $40 $41 $ 43.50 $ 43.00 $ 42.00 $ 42.00 YUMA 109 597 KIT CARSON 139 493 632 $43 $41 SEDGWICK 25 230 255 $45 $39 WASHINGTON .... 65 357 422 $40 $38 $ .S9.00 © TOTAL 3,208 16,355 19,563 $3,795 $3,220 $7,017.00 AVERAGE $64 $53 $ 58.00 s * Crowley recorded for two years, Jackson for four years and Mof- fat for three years. 64 COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, Fig. X. Total Male and Female Tea.chers in 1725 Third Class Districts for Eight Years 1906-1913 Inclusive. Total No. of Teachers 19,563 SITES AXD BUILDINGS. The subject of sites and buildings is a very important one. It shows what preparation has been made for the education of country children, and this permanent investment in the school-plant most always measures the interest of any community in the education of its children. For in the last analysis, sites and buildings do fairly represent the condition of COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 6b public sentiment in any district, and are the concrete expression of the ideals of the people with regard to education. Of course, the people now living in a given community may not be the same ones who actually planned and erected the school house now in use, for in many cases this was done by the pioneers who first settled the country. Still, the tact that those now living in such districts permit such buildings to be used, as are found in many places in this state, makes them more guilty in this respect than the pioneers who built to meet entirely different conditions. So communities and the people who live in them are judged not only by what they do, but also by what they fail to do, or refrain from doing. It is within the power of any district at any time to improve its school house and grounds, if it so desires, if these are not up to the standard that they should be. The fact that a school house built twenty-five years ago is still in use, unchanged and unimproved, is strong evidence that the people are satisfied with things as they are, and that public sentiment for better things has not been strong enough to bring about improvements. It may be that some people in the district may not be satisfied, but the majority seem to be, and ma- jority rules in schools as in other things. The utter inadequacy of the school plant, as found in most of the school districts here considered, is sufficient to account for much of the failure of these schools. This is very clear to anyone who will visit a large number of these districts in different parts of the state, and it is still more convincing to the one who will investigate the records of all these districts on this item. The school houses and grounds not only show the need of the expenditure of more money, but the dilapidated and unkept condition of many of them clearly shows the lack of intelli- gent care. Colorado probably has as good school houses as many other states, even better than some, and while there are many school houses that are built of good materials in a substantial manner, and cost considerable money, still when due allowance has been made for all of these, there are few items on which our schools make a poorer showing than they do on sites and buildings. Most of the buildings are of the traditional type that has been in use for so many years; and it does not matter what the exterior appearance of the buildings may be — the inside of all is very much the same. If it is a one-teacher school, it has but one room in which all pupils, of all ages and in all grades must study and recite. Not one of them in a hundred has even a small room for recitation, or a place where some of the classes could either study or recite, and be free from the noise and confusion in the room where all the school work is now done. There is no provision made for a place to do some manual train- ing, sewing, cooking, seed testing, milk testing, and other similar lines of work which should be done in all rural schools, and which add so much to their efficiency. If there happens to be two or three rooms in the same building, each room or division of the school is almost as separate and independent of the others as if located on different sites, and without further description, it can be truthfully said that most of the school 56 'OLOHiDD AGincrr/ruRAL collegi:. COLORADO RURAL A^'D VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 67 bouses In these districts are wholly inadequate to meet the needs and to do the work that should be done in them. As cheaply built and as poorly arranged as most of the buildings are, as poorly seated, heated, venti- lated, lighted and furnished, the school grounds are still less cared for. But little, if any, attention is paid to play or recreation, and not one dis- trict in fifty makes any provision for it. A number of districts did not invest a dollar in sites and buildings during the whole eight years, but were apparently content to rent a room in a private house, or to use one donated for that purpose. All third class districts have been divided into three classes, accord- ing to the amount of money each invested in sites and buildings. The first division includes all districts in which the value of sites and build- ings was less than $500 on an eight-year average. The second division includes all districts in each of which the school property was valued at between $500 and $1000, while the third includes all districts in which the permanent investment was more than $10 00. There were 4 84 districts in the first group, in each of which the school house and grounds were valued at less than $500, and 10,600 school children lived in these districts. This was 2 7 per cent of the total number of districts, and 12.5 per cent, or one-eighth of the school census of all the districts. While not one of these districts had buildings and grounds valued at as much as $500, the average for the entire group was but $284, or not enough to build a good shed. This represents an investment of $14 per census pupil in sites and buildings for these 10,600 country children. There were 501 districts, each of which had between $500 and $1000 invested in school property, and 16,82 9 school children lived in these dis- tricts. This was 2 9 per cent of the total number of districts, and 20 per cent of the school census. The average value of sites and buildings in this group was but $69 3 each, or less than enough to build a good barn. It represents an investment of but $20 per census pupil. By combining these two groups, we have 985 districts, or 5 6 per cent of the total number in which we find 27,429 children, or 33 1-3 per cent of the total census. The investment in sites and buildings in these two groups was $18 per census pupil. Here we have more than halt of the total number of districts, and one-third of the school children living in them, and it can be asserted tliat not one of the districts has made ade- quate provision for the education of its children. When we remember that most school houses serve three or four generations of school chil- dren with but little additional cost for the building, the cheapness of rural education is clearly shown in these districts. There were 740 districts in the group that had an investment of more than $1,000.00 each. This was 44 per cent of the districts, and 54,745 children lived in these districts. The average investment per census pupil in this group was $38.00 each, while the average per dis- trict was $2,852.00. By carrying the comparison one step farther, we find that for the entire 1,725 third-class districts, the investment in sites and buildings was $32.00 per census pupils. 38 COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE^ <'<>L()RAUO RURAL AT\ D VILLAGE SCHOOLS, Fig. XI. C9 Assessed Valua-tion of All 3rd Class School Dists, An 8 Year Av. CI906-I9I3) » 14-9,995,006. Bonding Ability of these Districts d.S'^" Total Amount That Mifirht Have Been Raised S5,249, 8 25. Used. Not Used. The building resources for all of these districts, as provided by law is shown In Figure XI. whicli also shows what part of the maximum was used, and the part that was not used. From this, we see that these districts used but approximately half of their funds which might have been made available for use in building and improving their schools. It was also shown when considering the Special Tax, that they had used but half of the legal limits for maintaining their schools. So, if these schools were inefficient, it was not because more money fdiilri nnl bavi- Iippii raised bnth foi' building and maintenance, had 70 COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, COLORADO LWllXL .lA'Ll VILLAGE HGHOOLS, 71 the people wanted to do so, and had they all voted the limit of three and one-half per cent allowed by law for buildings, and 16.2 mills for running expenses, the average taxpayer would mot have been impov- erished because of the school-taxes. No good reason has yet been advanced why country people should not pay as much for the educa- tion of their children as people who live In cities, but the average for all the first- and second-class districts clearly shows that they pay from two to four times as high a rate of school-tax as do third class districts. This is for the current expenses ot their schools, while for sites and buildings for each dollar paid by all the third class districts, the first and second class districts paid three. The value of all school property in the 1,725 third class districts for the eight year period was $2,643,905.00, while the city of Denver alone valued its school prop- erty at $4,704,555.00, or nearly twice as much, which makes an in- vestment of $90.00 per census pupils, as compared to $32.00 in all third class districts. The city of Greeley alone valued its school prop- erty much in excess of the value of the 484 country districts in the first group given above, and still these districts had five times as many children as Greeley. The cities of Colorado Springs and Pueblo each valued its school plant at more than twice the amount given for the 501 districts in the second class. The cities of Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley, Boulder, Grand Junction, and Trinidad, had a combined school census of 82,313, as compared to 82,174 in all the third class districts — almost exactly the same number of children, and yet these city school systems valued their school property at $7,000,- 823, while all the third class districts combined only amounted to $2,643,905. All this would seem to indicate that our country children are not getting a square deal. While the city children enjoy the best that the ablest talent can provide, and the best that money can buy, our country children must be content with the ragged edges of our public school system, and yet the producing value of the farms and lands within these country dis- tricts is many times as great as that of all the towns in the entire state. These 172 5 country districts ARE COLORADO, while all of our cities, with all their population and all their wealth, make but a dot on the map of the state. Of course, if city schools are efficient, it is because their system is efficient. It is because education is in the hands of trained teachers, principals and superintendents, and all these, and other things, are made possible because the city people are taxed to pay for them; and if these country schools are poor, and the major- ity of our country children are not even getting an elementary educa- tion, it is because the rural district system does mot give good results, and for the further reason that the country people have not been willing to tax themselves sufficiently high to raise money enough to make the present system as efficient as it might be made with better buildlags, better equipment, ample grounds for play, and ,a small school farm in each district, with better trained teachers, better paid superintendents and adequate supervision — in most of which they are sadly lacking now. 72 COLOUAUO A<_! I! I (JU t/l'Ul! A Ij COLLl-lCrli, THE DISTRICT SYSTEM. It has been clearly shown that the people did not invest but half their legal resources tor buildings and grounds, and it is reasonable to presume that better buildings, with better equipment and more ample playgrounds equipped with apparatus, with a small school farm, at least in the stronger districts, would have had a tendency to make school life more interesting and attractive for these boys and girls, with the result that more of them would have continued in school until they finished the course. It has also been made equally clear that cm the average, these dstricts raised but half the money that the law allowed them to raise for current expenses, and there is no doubt but if some of the unusued resources for maintenance had been used to lengthen the term, to employ better trained and more experienced teachers, special teachers, supervisors, and pay larger salaries to county superintendents, this would have added much to the efficiency of the schools, so that for the eight year period more than twenty-two out of each one hundred enrolled would have graduated from the eighth grade, even under the present system. But after all, it is a question whether more money, either for sites and buildings, or for maintenance, is the thing that is most needed in these schools. It would seem from the facts given that there is something fundamentally wrong with the district system, and that a complete reorganization is more necessary than the expenditure of more money, much as that is needed. As was said in a preceding paragraph, each district is a unit, separate and independent of all others, even in the same county, and there are as many systems in a county as there are different districts. Bach may, and actually does, perform all the functions of education in the conduct of its schools without refere.nce to what any other dis- trict in the same county may do, and so long as the school board does not violate a few restrictions placed upon it by law, there is no author- ity outside the boundaries of the district that can dictate how the schools should be conducted. Each district has its own board of three members, none of whom claim to be educators, yet they are charged with practically all of the important duties in the management of their schools. The trouble is not so much with the school directors, as it is with the system that makes it necessary for them to try to perform duties for which they have had no opportunity to prepare themselves. The administration and supervision of city schools is lodged in the hands of people who have had special training and years of experience to fit them for their work, while every teacher in the system must have a thorough education with Normal training and successful experience. Yet the system now in use in the rural schools of this and many other states is arranged on the theory that three persons in each district can, and will, take enough of their own time from their own work to see that their schools are efficient. No matter how ideal this arrangement may be as a theory, it never has given satisfactory results in practice, and there is ino reason to expect it to do so, for if the boards of the average third class districts should actually perform all the duties re- COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 7 3 quired of them to make their schools efficient, they would do it at an expense of time and effort and loss of money to themselves that the rest of their community has no right to require of them. The unit IS too small, and does not have within its boundaries the things neces- sary to make a good school, while co-operation between independent districts, where each is is a system by itself, has never yet been a suc- cess in this state. Five districts could employ a music teacher, a drawing teacher, one to teach agriculture, manual training, domestic science, or other subjects, and this person could spend a full day or two half days in each school each week, and add greatly to their efficiency, but this is not done, because co-operatioin of the kind that is necessary to make good schools is almost an impossibility between independent districts, and what each district cannot, or does not, pro- vide for Itself it goes without. The district system was organized and built up on the theory of giving each community a school of its own, and separateness and in- dependence are its distinguishing characteristics. One of the greatest co-operative enterprises of modern times is public education, and its greatest success depends upon the co-oper- ation of every citizen in comparatively large units, a condition which the small districts do not meet. Each stands or falls alone, since most of them do not possess the things necessary to make a good school, and since co-operation between them is practically impossible. There is every degree of variation between these 1,725 districts. They vary in area from a little more than one section of land to many towships; in assessable property on which taxes may be levied to build and sup- port school, from $250.00 to more than $1,000,000,00. They vary in number of children from an average of one in a district to 340; in number of teachers, from one to 18; in the value of buildings, from nothing to $25,000.00, while there is but little uniformity in length of term, taxes, or results. Other things being equal, the smaller the number of districts in a county, the greater is the efficiency of the system, and the greater the uniformity throughout the county in all things that make for better schools. To illustrate this point, two bounties may be compared — they are Cheyenne and Weld counties. Cheyenne county is situated on the east central border of the state in the semi-arid, or "dry-farming-" section of the great plains. It has an area of 1,500 square miles, which indicates that it is a comparatively large county. It all lies in the great plains, and its surface is uniformly level. It has its population scattered all over its surface, and its school-houses are equally well distributed. In most respects, it is like a number of other counties in the same part of the state, but is unlike those that surround it, as well as most of the others of the state, in that it has but nine districts, while some of its near neighbors under exactly similar conditions, have as many as eighty-seven different districts in the same county. The nine districts with their mine school boards, manage the educational affairs of the entire county. There are sixty- five school buildings in the county, and all except three or four are one-teacher schools. One district has thirteen one-teacher schools, all 7 4 COLORADO AGinvULTV RAL COLLEGE, under the direction of three directors, and when these schools are com- pared with those in adjoining counties where each one-room school is an independent district with three directors, they do not suffer by- comparison, because of the laclt of school directors. The schools of Cheyenne county show a higher degree of efficiency in eighth grade graduates than certain good farming counties that have fifty districts, 150 school directors, and ten times as much wealth as this dry-land county. It is not impossible to get the nine boards and twenty-seven directors to agree upon county uniformity in certain things, and the county superintendent has done this, to the great improvement of the schools. There is entire uniformity between the different schools with- in the same district, and in certp.in respects between the different districts. It was surprising, when visiting schools in this county, to find that the people who patronize the different schools in the same district seemed entirely satisfied with the present arrangement, and no complaint was heard that one school got a better teacher, a better school-house, bet- ter books, or more attention from the members of the school board than others in the same district. The county superintendent stated that there was ino dejlmand in the different parts of the county for the formation of new districts by the further division of the nine which now include all the territory of the county. With their districts In this condition, where each has from four to thirteen schools, each district can, and is warranted in, employing a supervising principal to visit and supervise all of the schools in the district. This is now being considered in some of the districts, and should the time come when all nine employ such a person, the county superintendent will then have a corps of assistants that will make rural school supervision a reality in one Colorado county, as it has already come to be in the counties of a few other states. Let us now contrast_,Weld county with Cheyenne. Weld is the wealth- iest and one of the most prosperous and well developed agricultural coun- ties in Colorado. In area it is larger than the state of Rhode Island, and has 107 independent third class school districts — more than any other county in the state. Most of the children in Weld county live under condi- tions that are very favorable for the highest type of rural schools, and their present schools compare favorably with the best in the state, but we are comparing the school systems of the two counties. There are 107 districts and as many systems in Weld county, for there is practically no co-opera- tion between the different districts. .There are 107 different school boards consistiag of 3 21 directors, and a majority of each board is necessary for any kind of county uniformity. In practice this is obviously impossible, both because of the number of independent units concerned, the number of persons involved, and the utter improbability of the county superintendent ever being able, or having the time, to see or communicate with the different boards and members in a way that will get unity of action and results. These districts have more than 1.50 school-houses, employ 260 teachers, and had an average school census of 7,522 children, whose only supervision is the annual visit of the county superintendent. There is little hope, with the large CDLOHMJI) RIJHMj am.) 1 7 /./j 107-; KdllOitL^. MAP OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS CHEYENNE COUNTY COLORADO S* W -Ltt m 'I'liiM Is a fairly gnoil nrriiiiiseinent of the distrlels. uiie of the bent in the Mtute. MAP OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS \A/ELD COUNTY COLORADO A had case of "DiNtrlctitiM." There aie 107 iuilepeudeut diNtricIs in thin county. 76 ('(JLOtiADO AOlilVULTURAL COLIJ-:!!!., number of districts involved, that this prosperous county can ever adequately improve its rural schools by co-operation between these 107 districts.. The tendency is not in that direction. During all of these eight years these districts might, and could have co-operated to em- ploy a sufficient number of supervisors to properly supervise and harmonize the work of these schools in this large county, but they did not do it. One of the things they most need is supervision, and if economy had been necessary, each district could have shortened its term two weeks, and the money thus saved could have been used to employ four supervisors for all of the schools, and with this supervision and a two weeks shorter term, the schools could have been made better than they were. It is not at all uncommon for a teacher to finish the term without a member of the school board or a patron visiting the school, and where such visitation is common, both by school boards and patrons, it iiraounts to but little more than a commendable manifestation of in- terest in education, and the schools oeed something more than mere visitation. They need an organization that will permit intelligent ad- ministration by a comparatively small board acting (or the third class districts in each county. Such a board could and would employ expert and experienced superintendents, skilled supervisors for all the schools, special teachers for special subjects, a,nd principals and teachers with the highest qualifications obtainable. This would put the conduct of rural schobls into the hands of people who are most competent and best prepared to do educational work, which is the secret of the success of city schools. It may be argued that it is impossible to get better trained teachers than are inow employed, since we now use all avail- able teachers. No large additional supply could be obtained at once, but with better paid superintendents, assisted by experienced super- visors and a few special teachers, the efficiency of the teachers we now have would be greatly increased, and under the direction of trained supervisors and the guidance of professional educators, these same teachers would have a chance to succeed, which they do not have now, and in addition to this, they vv-ould improve in service. The tenure of position would increase, and with this security in their posi- tion, most of these teachers would take summer courses in the different educational institutions of the state, and make special preparation for work in rural schools. Country teachers are not "tramp" teachers by choice, but of neces- sity, and if given a chance to get professional training, most of them would take it, a thing which many of them do at the present time. In most districts at the present time the teacher is the system, and a change of teachers means a change of system, for there is but little of the good work done by one teacher that can survive the summer vacation and be helpful the following year to her successor. None of these country schools have more than nine months of school, and at the end of this term the system dies in each school, for there is nothing to keep it alive, except in a few of the larger schools, where several teachers are employed. In city schools the superintendent and principal keep the system in rontin- VOLOUADO UUUAL A^D \ ILLA^E ^VHUOLhi, 77 uous existence, while this organization does not exist in country districts. It has been the aim throughout this bulletin to consider this whole subject in a strictly impersonal manner, and to point out the weak points in the system, rather than call attention to the faults or failures of county superintendents, teachers, school boards, or the patrons of these schools. This course has been followed because of a deep conviction that the fault is not with the people themselves, but with the system which they are ex- pected to operate, and they are to blame only because they are a part of the system. The inherent difficulties in the district system are so great that they make its successful operation an impossibility in the average county in Colorado, and when we add to these inherent difficulties of the system itself, the frailties of humanity in its operation, it is not surpris- ing that it has not been more successful in these sixty counties. Little has been said about some county superintendents who may not be pre- pared for their work, either educationally or professionally, or a few who may be in office more because of their abilities as politicians than as edu- cators. No glaring pictures have been painted of country teachers who have utterly failed, and will continue to fail, and of others who are whol- ly unprepared to teach. No attempt has been made to describe school houses and grounds, with outbuildings, many of them, covered with filth and obscenity. Nothing has been said about neighborhood quarrels be- tween factions and families that are often carried into the schools. No account has been given of the lack of education and breadth of vision of some school directors, some of whom received their only schooling in these same schools whose destinies they now help to direct. Nothing has been said about the man who neither loves his neighbor as himself, nor has any regard for the education of his neighbor's children, and who, either because he has no children of his own, or is a non-resident, does not want to pay taxes to educate other people's children. These and other difficulties exist in Colorado, but it is safe to assert that these things are not found in Colorado to any greater extent than they are in other states. There is no reason to make harsh statements about the people who live in the districts here described, and accuse them of neglect in the care and education of their children, when we stop to think and recall the fact that no state in the Union has, or has ever had, an efficient system of rural schools with the small, weak district as the unit of its system. Nor is there any reason to expect the average county in Colorado to ever have a thoroughly efficient system of rural schools with the district unit. The unit organization is too small to even permit of intelligent ad- ministration, while it is almost wholly lacking in supervision. Without a good organization, business administration and professional supervision there is no reason to expect efficiency in these schools. It is precisely in these three respects, and in addition to this, in its teaching force, that these 1725 districts are most lacking. la coIjOhauo agricultural uollegl, RURAL SCHOOL IMPROVEMEXT BY CONSOLIDATION. OF DISTRICTS It was not the intention to convey tlie impression in the preceding pages tliat nothing is being done to improve the rural schools of Colorado. There are some rural schools that are doing most excellent work, but they are few in number when compared with the great number that are doing an inferior grade of work. Since the small, weak districts do not possess the things necessary to make a good school, the problem is to so reorganize them, or comhiine enough of them into one new district, so that many of the things lack- ing m the smaller unit may be supplied. I his can be best done under ex- isting conditions by the consolidation of two or more adjoining districts, thus including a larger area, more taxable property, more people and more children, making it possible to erect better buildings, employ more and stronger teachers, and have better schools. Many of the present districts are so small that often four to six may be included within a radius of four miles from a common central point. There is one locality in Lari- mer county where a circle drawn with a four-mile radius will include all of the habitable parts of seven separate independent school districts, SOU children of school age, twelve teachers and property with an assessable value in excess of $1,000,000. In one locality in Mesa county a tliree and one-half mile radius will include three three-teacher schools, 340 children, and $1,000,000 of as- sessable property, while in another ,a circle of the same radius will in- clude three two-teacher schools and 2.50 children. In Delta county, a three- and a two-teacher school are just one mile apart on a level road, and the only impassable barrier between them is an imaginary line form- ing the district boundaries. While visiting these schools last year, it was discovered that teachers in each district lived beyond the school house in the other, and passed each other twice a day in going to and from their schools. Consolidation was suggested here, both to secure a better school and also as a convenience for the teachers. So it is in many of the coun- ties, and contrary to the general belief, there are few states where a larg- er per cent of the country children live under conditions more favorable for consolidation than in Colorado. Tliere are many, many localities, and in many counties, where conditions are all just as favorable for con- solidation as they are in any other state, and it can be safely said that consolidation will put more country children in good country schools, each with a high school, than will any other form of rural school improve- ment. It has been said in preceding pages that the great majority of the country children in this state live under conditions that are favorable for good schools, and if all these would consolidate where consolidation is easily possible and feasible, these localities would make more progress in school improvement in a single year than they have from the time the dis- tricts were established, up to the present time. Consolidation is not new, and it is not our purpose to discuss its merits here, but rather to show what has been done in this state by a COLORADO IWltAh AND VlLLAdli I^CHOOLS, 79 0) r5 in a o ffe. S***'" so COLORADO AQRIC'V Ll'IJ UAL COLLEGE, metliod of rural school improvement that has proven universally success- ful in more than thirty-five other states. Our law permitting the consolidation of districts was passed in 1909. It is a good law. It is working well wherever districts have united under it, and the only difficulty in the way of its extension to hundreds of dis- tricts is the traditional conservatism of country people, and the f-ct that it is necessary to deal with independent units in bringing about a con- solidation. Still, there are several splendid consolidated schools in this state, and because of the great success of these schools, many other lo- calities are considering the subject. Colorado is proud, and has reason to be proud, of the consolidated rural schools here described: THE LOMA SCHOOL. This was probably the first of this type of schools in Colorado, and unlike any of the others, there was not an opposing vote on the question of consolidation. The three dilapidated old buildings here shown were abandoned without the shedding of either blood or tears, and the mag- nificent new brick and stone building, costing $14,000 quickly took their place. The three old ones were not worth $1400. The new school has been a marked success from the beginning, and there is no basis for com- parison between the poor and inefficient schools in the old buildings and the excellent one ever since conducted in the new. In the old schools, the enrollment was low, the attendance poor, tardy marks were legion, while an eighth grade graduate was almost, if not entirely unknown in all of them. This school is located five miles west of Fruita in .^lesa county. The new school opened in the fall of 1910, with three strong teach- ers. The following year a fourth was added, while at the present time, five capable teachers are employed, 14.5 children are enrolled, and two years of high school work are given. The per cent of the census that en- rolls, and the per cent of the enrollment in average daily attendance, the passing of all the children through their grades, and the number of pu- pils who graduate from the eighth grade, prove conclusively that the chil- dren appreciate a good school, and will attend one and do good work if given the opportunity. THE FRUITVALE SCHOOL. This school is also located in Jlesa county, just two miles east of Grand Junction. It does not have one large building as most such schools have, but instead, it has three smaller ones, all located on the same grounds. It now has eight well trained, experienced and successful teach- ers, whose qualifications are equal to those doing the same grade of work in town schools. A full four-year high school is maintained. Last year 190 pupils were enrolled, which was practically all the children in the dis- trict who were eligible. It would be hard to find a more efficient school, or one doing a higher grade of work. The regular subjects are taught fully as well as the same branches are in city schools, while the science work is given a country application. The text-books are of the very latest and best, the equipment is good, each building has a musical instrument, and all other things necessary for a good school. A milk tester Is used in the laboratory which has added much interest to the school work, and COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 81 has been of service to the patrons of the school, who frequently have their milk tested by their own children. They have done some work in ele- mentary agriculture, and a stronger course is being offered this year. Manual training has also been added to the course. The school board has tor several years past used excellent judgment in the selection of teachers, in providing them with everything necessary for the proper conduct of the school, and in supporting them in every way that would make and keep the school at the maximum of efficiency. The school board and teachers are supported by a community of 150 families, all of whom take great pride in their school, and show their interest both by giving the school their moral support, and by taxing themselves to the as S2 COLORADO AGRICCL'I'URsiL COLLIXIE, limit allowed by law to make it as good as it is possible to make it. There is system, order, and a purpose in every part of the school work. This school has one of the best equipped playgrounds found in any rural dis- trict in the state. This was provided by an active and progressive "Mothers' Club," which takes a very intelligent interest in educational af- fairs in the district, both at home and in the school, acting upon the theory that the training of children is one of the chief duties of mother- hood. Here, as in any good school, almost every child makes a grade each year and comes back the following year to enter the next higher grade. The number of eighth grade graduates increases each year, and as fast X COLORADO RUR Uj . LVZ> VILLAUI-: SCHOoLK, o oil 5! •g 84 VOLURADU AiJHWULTURAL COLLEGE, as they complete the elementary course they almost all enroll in then- own high school where they receive excellent instruction, and from which they can easily return to the protection of the parental home each night. One transportation wagon has been used for five years. This has been fully as satisfactory as the other parts of the school work. The same man has furnished the team and driven the wagon since it was first started. He receives $50 per month tor his team and his own services, and has fully one half of his time for his own work on school days. He is a man of the highest character. He signs a contract that specifies his duties, and then gives a $500 cash bond for the faithful performance of his daty. In five years this wagon has never missed a trip, has never required four horses, has never been tardy, and has proven entirely satisfactory to those who patronize it. Because of its success, a second wagon has been started this year. As has already been said, the teachers are the best that can be secured. All the teachers receive as good salaries in this country school as they would receive for the same kind of work in town schools. The principal is a university trained man, owns his own farm close to the school house, and is a permanent resident in the district. He is not em- ployed for just nine months and then compelled to look elsewhere for a position for the following year, but he holds ,a three-year contract with his school board, and instead of drawing a salary for nine months and then being compelled to find other employment, he draws a salary of $90 every calendar month in the year. This arrangement works just like it might be expected to work. He has already spent two terms in the sum- mer School of the State University, and ranks as one of the leading edu- cators in the state in his line of work. He keeps the school system alive twelve months In the year, and is always on the ground to look after the interests of the school. Although this district is a comparatively small unit, still it has enough children and enough taxable property within its boundaries to em- ploy eight strong teachers, maintains twelve grades, and it does a high grade of work. Nor is it entirely lacking in supervision, for the principal spends a part of his time in supervising the work of the other teachers. A picture of one of the buildings, last year's high school pupils, and the wagon that has been used for five years, are shown on another page. THE APPLETON SCHOOL. The Appleton Consolidated School was formed by uniting three dis- tricts after a two year's campaign and legal battle which did not end un- til decided by the State Supreme Court. The new school is located seven miles northwest of Grand Junction. Three buildings were abandoned, one with one room, one with two, and one with three. The building is constructed of stucco, has ten rooms, two large halls, a principal's office, and a nice assembly room seated with 312 chairs. It is lighted with elec- tricity and owns its own stereopticon. It cost $14,000 and has a three- acre site for which $1000 were paid. Eight teachers were connected with th^ school last year — six on full time, and two on part time. A four- year high school course is maintained, and agriculture and manual training are included in the course of study. All boys above the fourth grade took I'OhOh-ADO RUUAh A\D VlLLAGil HCUOOLH, 85 manual training one-half day each week last year. The shop is equipped with fourteen double benches of the latest model. The school has an or- chestra, and can furnish music for its own entertainments. One hundred seventy-five pupils enrolled last year, a part of whom were transported on an interurban at five cents each for the round trip. About twenty-flve others were carried to school in a wagon at a cost of seven cents each per day. Under the old system, but a small part of the few who finished the eighth grade continued their studies in Grand June- Fig. XII. APPLETON CONSOLIDATED RURAL SCHOOL. Mesa County. Enrollment and Teachers. Gra.des 2nd 35 PUPILS 20 ]One Teacher. 4*b 20 IZ One Teacher. 6ti: 16 17 One Teacher. •pth 8tli 18 10 148 ] One Teacher. 4^ Teachers "'^^ ||M: t :. \ ^ Teachers. School\l2.'l - 3 ) I Teacher Manua/ Train in{ Teac hers. a 63 Pupils Take Manual Training. • -r- flnterurban-4/- Sets each per dau. 65 Are Transported by j oi o ' -" Iwag-on - 2.1 Sets The People from this District do not Need to Sent/ Their Children awa.u from Home toalou/n School to Educate Them. The Countrij is the Place to Educate Children. su COLORADO AOlilCi l/rUJ>'AL (JOLLEOh:. tion's excellent high school, or any other, for such a course meant break- ing up the home, either for the children, the parents, or both, but today most all the pupils enroll in their own high school as soon as they com- plete the elementary course, again proving that country children will take a high school education and do good work, if given the chance. A recent visit to this school showed a high grade of work being done. The Appleton School — The three abandoned bnildjngs. 8 8 COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, principal is a university trained man, with years of successful experience. He, too, lives on his own ranch near the school he serves. He holds a three-year contract with his board, and receives a salary of $1200 for s s C nine months' work. He holds the highest grade certificate granted by the state, while the qualifications of his teachers are of the best, and the school is many times superior to the old ones it replaced. The fine as- sembly room, brightly lighted, and comfortably seated, is frequently used by all the patrons who gather here tor school entertainments, musicales, lectures, etc., and in this way the new school becomes a social, as well as an educational, center for the community. These people have not only COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, S9 provided for their children's education, but for their own and their chil- dren's entertainment, thus supplying, partly at least, one of the great de- ficiencies in country life. Pictures of the three abandoned buildings, the new one, and last year's high school are shown on another page. THE AVONDALE SCHOOL. This school is located a few miles from the city of Pueblo, and was formed by consolidating three one-room schools. It has three build- ings on the same grounds, built on the cottage plan, instead of having, one large one. The school census is two hundred twenty. The enroll- ment the last year one hundred sixty-four, four teachers were employed and two years of high school work are given. The enrollment in the new school is thirty-eight per cent better than it was in the old ones it replaced. The average dally attendance in the three old ones was sixty-two per cent of the eprnllment, while last year it was ninety-two per cent. The number of eighth grade graduates has increased fifty per cent. Three transportation wagons are used at an average cost of $47 each per month. Here, as in the other schools described, system, order and good results have rewarded these people in their efforts to improve their schools. This school, like the others, has already made a record for efficiency and service, of which the school board and patrons are justly proud. Here, also, the board has been successful in the selection of a principal, and the other teachers with correspondingly good results. THE CACHE LA POUDRE SCHOOL. This splendid school is located in Larimer county six miles west of Fort Collins, and exhibits the most remarkable transformation yet witnessed in rural school improvement in Colorado. A little more than one year ago, the people in this community were holding school in the six old buildings shown in the cut — buildings very similar to 2,000 others in this state, but today they are in a class by themselves, for they now have the largest, the strongest, and best equipped rural school in Colorado. Pour districts consolidated, thus uniting five one-teacher schools and one with three teachers. Parts of two adjoining districts were annexed by petition, making the equivalent of five districts in the consolidation. The site of the new building consists of four and one-half acres of good farming land with water right. It has a small orchard of six-year-old apple trees. It has ground that will be used for gar- dens. It has large baseball and football grounds, playground for the small children, and room for tennis courts. The school board, with commendable wisdom and foresight, remodeled the best one of the abandoned buildings and made of it a comfortable six-room house in which the principal now lives with his family. Its interior arrangement is modern and convenient, and it is supplied with pure mountan water. This provision of a teacherage makes it possible for the principal to be on the school grounds all of the time. The school building is constructed of red sandstone and pressed brick. It is three stories high, the first floor being eight inches above COLOR A DO AGRICULTURAL COLTjEGE. COLORADO UVEAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 91 92 COLURAIJO AGHWULTURAL COLLEGE, the level of the ground. The first floor contains the steam heating plant, coal-bins, five rooms in which tlie janitor and his faimly live, the toilet rooms, a laboratory, and two large rooms now used for play-rooms for the small children in stormy weather, and lunch rooms for those who ride to school. The second floor lias a large hallway and four large class-rooms, while on the third floor are three more class-rooms, a rest- room for the women teachers, a principal's office, and a large assembly room which will accommodate from 350 to 400 people. The school is supplied with mountain water, and has sanitary drinking fountains on Pig. XIII. PRESENT ENROLLMENT IN THE CACHE LA POUDRE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL GRADES /sT- ■29 PUPILS 2X0 28 ■ 310 36 \ -*TH 21 3 29 6 19 7'' 23 8 34 > 5 TEACHERS TOTAL 219 HIGH SCHOOL 9^»^17 10 8 11 9 12 13 > 3 TOTAL 1^7 8 GRAND TOTAL'SGB PUPILS' 8TEACHERS COLORADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, 93 each floor. It is wired for electricity, but at present is lighted with gas. The complete plant cost $25,000. A four-year high school is maintained, in which agriculture and farm life subjects have an important place. The enrollment for the school year 1913-1914 was 277. These pupils were distributed through- out the grades and apportioned among the teachers, as shown in Figure XIII._ which was correct to January, 1914. Eight capable teachers were employed, and most excellent work was done in all departments. High school work had been done In one of the old districts, which furnished students with which to start the new high school. Although the new school has now been in existence but one year, still in this short time it has broken two state records for rural schools. On tfie eleventh of June last, twenty-four countiy boys and girls graduated from the eighth grade in this school. This was the largest eighth grade class that ever graduated from a country school in this state. At the same time, twelve young men and women graduated from a four-year high school course, and this is the largest number which has so far graduated from a country high school. One young man was twenty-four years of age, and it is very improbable that he, or others like him, would go to a.ny city high school. Seven regular transportation vans are used to convey 166 children to and from school each day. Each driver signs a contract in which the duties that he is required to perform are explicitly defined, and in addition to this, each gives a $500 bond for the careful and faithful performance of his duty. The average cost per team and driver was $45 per month. The average cost per pupil was nine cents a day. There were no tardy marks made by any of the pupils v.'ho rode in the wagons, and no trouble of any kind was encountered in the transporta- tion. This was true notwithstanding the fact that last winter wit- Piiiicipiil's Cottajte, Caclie La Poudre School. COLORADO AOniCVLTCRXL COLLEGE, High School Graduating Class, Cache T.a Poudre School. nessed the worst snowstorm seen since the settlement of this county. All railroads were blockaded for several days, the street cars in Fort Collins did not run for weeks after the storm, country roads were blocked, and most farmers had to drive their stock to the hay-stacks for feed. The people in the Cache la Poudre School district took their teams and broke their roads. The drivers of the school vans took the Foothall Team, Cache Tja Poudre School. i'OLORAUo RURAL AND VlLLAOhS SCHOOLS, 95 Athletic Field, Cache La Poudie School. wheels off their wagons and attached sled runners in their places, and everybody went to school in this progressive district. Only four days of school were lost in this school, while some city schools were closed for eight days, and many country schools for two weeks. The enrollment and average daily attendance were near the maxi- mum at all times during the year, which is excellent evidence of an efficient school. The large assembly room affords a comfortable and convenient place for lectures, school entertainments, musicales, and other programs that help to make this school not only an educational center, but also a social center for all the people of this prosperous com- munity, which has 207 families living within the borders of the school district. It is an inspiration for anyone to visit this country school and see the splendid opportunities these children have, to enjoy and profit by twelve years of schooling within easy daily reach of their homes. The enrollment, attendance, and results of the first year's work prove that they appreciate this and are taking advantage of their opportunities. The people in all these consolidated schools have made provision for the education of their children, and by so doing have made sure that they will have a good school within reach, and at the same time they have added four more years of home life for their children, for if they go away to a town school, they go away from home, and few of them ever come back to the old home to stay. These four years of high school at the old home and on the old farm ought to be worth more to every father and mother than the comparatively small sum of money it costs. These are the years when habits are being fixed and 96 VOLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, character is orystalizing, and when the guiding hands of father and mother and home Influences are most needed by the boys and girls be- fore they launch out for themselves on the voyage of life. Pictures of the six old buildings, the new one, the principal's cot- tage, the high school graduating class, the football team, and the athletic field are shown on other pages. OTHER CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS. There are a few other consolidated schools in Colorado, but space will permit but brief mention of them. A town district and a smaller country district consolidated at Fort Lupton in Weld county, thus mak- ing a strong district of the second class. A fine new building has been completed and an excellent school is being maintained. Two country districts consolidated in Montrose county in January of this year, and a new building will be in use this year. Another is reported in La Plata county where several schools were combined into a much better and stronger organization. The last one to date is at Parker, in Douglas county, where three districts united and a new building is being erected. Nothing has been said about the cost of operation of these con- solidated schools, except for the transportation. It will be noticed that these schools have not been in operation but a short time, and the records of the first one established can only be secured for three years back, since the report for 1913-1914 cannot yet be obtained. The aggregate cost so far has been a little more than the old schools, but the first cost would always be more in a change like this, still the per capita cost will be but little, if any, greater. The new schools are worth three times as much as the old ones, for they educate all of the children, and ofter a high school training for every child in the distncx, which none of the others did. The cost is not out of proportion to the service they render, and is such that any country community can easily meet it without excessive school taxes. None of these cost more for the twelve grades of work provided than the nearby town schools giving the same kind of work. They are within easy daily reach of all the children of all the people, and have already proved conclusively that it costs less to build good schools in the country for the education of country children than it does to send them to city schools for their high school education. Besides, it makes it unnecessary to break up the home, which most country people must do who send their children to town schools. This is a poor arrangement from any standpoint. Those who want their children to have an education badly enough to send them alone to live in town, or enough to break up the farm home to be with them, find when the high school course is finished that their children have been educated away from the farm, while the still larger number of parents who cannot meet the expenses, must see their children grow up to manhood and womanhood, many of them with less education than their parents who came to Colorado from good educational centers in other states. OOLOBADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SGHOOLU 97 While all of these consolidated schools, except the one at Fort Lupton now have less than 350 school children, and are still districts of the third class, yet the consolidation supplied them with a sufficient number of children, and placed within their reach sufficient funds with which to build, equip, and maintain a good school. Besides, the school system in these districts does not come to a full and complete stop at the end of each nine months of school, as It does in most third class districts, to be commenced anew the following year, but several of the teachers are retained each year, and the system is much more con- tinuous than In the smaller schools. In this respect they resemble city schools. In every particular they give much better results for the money expended than do the ordinary small districts. Consolidation, where this is feasible and possible, is the best method of rural school improvement yet tried in Colorado. SUMMARY. This survey was in progress during the greater part of the past two years, but is now complete for each school district in the entire state. That part of it which relates to the third class districts has been described in the preceding pages. The tables, charts, maps, and statistics used were made up from an eight-year survey of the official records of each district, and the statements made have been basd upon these facts. For the purpose of bringing these facts closer together, they are briefly summarized. It cost $13,019,959 to operate the schools in these districts. That amount was paid out duringi the eight years for buildings and mainten- ance. This seems like an enormous sum, and yet it wou'd build and equip only one first class battleship. It represents an annml expense of only $20 for each of the 82,174 children. When viewed in this light it becomes insignificant, especially when we remember that it covered prac- tically all the expense of public education in these districts. An average of 17,789 chi'dren lived in these districts each year of the eight who did not enroll in these schools at all. The^e were all of school age, and without sufficient education to prepare them for the active duties of life and for Intelligent citizenship. This number was out of school all of the time. They did not enroll. This was largely because the school system in these 1,725 districts made no provision for their education after they h^d completed the eis-hth grade. This might not have been possible in many distr-'cts, but it is certain that it was Iboth possible and fepsible to establish country high schools for a large per cent of these children. The average enrollment was 64,385, and of this number 25,166 were absent on an average all of the time because of irregular attend- ance. There are few valid excuses for absence from school aside from sickness, either of the children or their parents. Colorado is known the world over for its bright, sunny days, pure air, and healthful climate. It was not caused by poverty, either on the part of the parents, or lack of fjjii4s !by tjie districts, which raised but half of the funds allowed by as CULOHADO AGKIVUI/J'UHAL COLLEOi;, law for building and maintenance. These eight years were years ol plenty for the farmers and stockmen of Colorado, and witnessed the greatest agricultural development of any like period in recent times. One of the most common causes of absence from school is failure of the parents to appreciate the value of education enough to keep their children in school regularly. Had it not been for this large per cent of irregular attendance, many more would have completed the course. Still, it is difficult to tell whether the schools were inefficient because of poor attendance, or whether the attendance was irregular because the schools were poor. There is some connection between poor build- ings, unattractive grounds, untrained and inexperienced teachers, lack of interest in the districts, and poor attendance on the part of the pupils. Until the system can be made to give better results than it did during thse eight years, it is quite likely that some parents will be in- clined to question whether or not it pays to keep their children in school regularly. Some justification for this view is found in the fact that 24,660 of those who were In regular attendance did not complete the course in the eight years, during which time the great majority should have done so. Fourteen thousand, five hundred and fifty-nine, or twenty-two per cent of the enrollment did graduate, and thus complete the course offered, and for this good work the schools should be given full credit, still it is well to point out the fact that most of these districts made no further provision for the education of these children after they had completed the elementary course, when it was possible and feasible for many of them to have done so by the consolidation of a number of adjoining districts. In this way, country high schools could have been built up within easy daily reach of a large part of the school census. The average school year should have been longer, and the average salary for teachers should have been much higher in many districts and counties, but it has been shown that a majority of the children were found in those districts and counties in which the term of school was reasonably long and salaries comparatively high, and yet in spite of this fact most of these districts fell far below the standard of efficiency that should have been required of them. While the patrons could, and should, have been more liberal in pro- viding funds for buildings and for maintenance, still it can be said that the small district system is wasteful, and that it is difficult to spend money to the best advantage when building and employing on a small scale. The teaching body will first have to convince the farmer that in- creased efficiency will follow the expenditure of more money, before he will materially increase his taxes. This has not yet been done, and the fault is not all on the side of the taxpayer. The small district system is much better than none, yet it is also true that it is the least efficient now in general use. Some people still advocate this system, because they say it is democratic, that it keeps the power near the people, that local control, and a local board of three members tend to fix local responsibility, and develop and keep alive local interest in each district To what extent this has been true VOLORAUO RURAL A.\D VlLLAiiH SOHOOLH. H .i in Colorado can be clearly seen from the records of the districts.. Most of these counties had between twenty-five and one hundred districts, and three times as many directors as they had districts, yet in studying these counties there seems to be no increase in efficiency with the increase in the number of districts, and the accompanying increase in school directors. There is good evidence that the reverse is true. The dis- trict system is a relic of pioneer days, and within recent years,at least, the governing motive in the formation of new districts is not the desire for more efficient schools, but the desire for independent control on the part of those who want to form a new district. Yuma county had eighty-seven districts and 261 school directors who employed but ninety teachers each year. This was one director for each eight children en- rolled, aind yet, in spite of the large number of districts, and the Interest that is supposed to come from a large number of school officials, there v/ere thirty-nine districts in this one county not one of which had an eighth grade graduate in eight years. The average number of graduates for all the districts of this county for the eight year period was but fifteen per cent of the enrollment. In the same part of the state, under similar conditions of altitude, climate, rainfall and occupation was another county in which twenty-five per cent of the enrollment grad- uated, and there were not one-ninth as many districts or directors as in Yuma county. This is not because of any difference in the directors of the two counties, but is due to the opportuniities they had for making their schools efficient. Weld county had 107 districts and 321 directors, and yet less than one-third of the average enrollment completed the course in eight years. Las Animas county had seveinty-six districts with 228 directors, with most of the children grouped In large numbers, and in districts with high valuations, and still but six per cent of the enrollment completed the course offered in the rural and village schools, and forty districts did not graduate a pupil. These sixty counties had 1,725 districts, with 5,175 directors, and still the schools were not efficient. The poor showing made by all these districts is largely due to the poor organization of the districts system, the utter impossibility of getting a business administration, and the almost total lack of any kind of supervision in any of these schools. There is a county superintendent in each county, but each must enter politics to gain the office, must play the game to retain it, with the result that often the more efficient the superintendent, the sooner and surer is re-election made impossible. They are poorer paid than is any other county official. The county clerk, assessor, treasurer, sheriff, and even the county coroners are not only paid higher salaries, but are supplied with deputies, clerks, stenographers, offices and equipment commensurate with the work they are expected to do, while most of the county superintendents of this state are required to do all of their own office work, without even a stenographer, are required to look after the educational interests of hundreds, and often of thousands of school children, attending schools scattered over counties, some of which are as large as some eastern states; they must visit these schools and actually 100 COLORADO AORWUhTVRAL COLhBUE do give them all the supervision they get; they are supposed to stand at the head of the school system of their respective counties, a positi&n for the the preparation of which they have spent years in school, getting their education and professional training, other years in getting experience, and then not only receive a lower salary than other county olficials, but in many cases, less per month than some teachers in their rural schools whose certificates they do issue, and whose qualifications they must approve. This is why 113,019,959 were spent in all these districts in these eight years, not one dollar of which was spent for teaching in a school that was adequately supervised. These are some of the reasons why 49,826 schoool children tailed to pass through the eight grades in the time allotted for that purpose, and by so doing re- ceive the training required for an elementary education in the rural and village schools of Colorado. SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT. As far as time and opportunity would permit, all available informa- tion about each of thebe 1,725 third class districts has been collected, tabulated and weighed in an effort to ascertain conditions and determine the efficiency of each individual unit, each county and the slate as a whole. These facts have been given in the tables, charts, maps, pictures, and statistics used in this bulletin. They prove conclusively the ineificiency of the district system. Some of the reasons, which in our opinion, help to account for the failure of the district to give bet- ter service have already been given, and in this, the concluding chapter, some suggestions will be offered by means of which many educators in mis state believe that our rural schools could be made much more eflicient than they have been, or now are. We have been temporazing, amending, and trying to improve the preoant system for years, and yet but little real improvement has been made in the system itself. This method of improvement does not offer much encouragement, and a complete re-organization of the entire sys- tem seems to be the best way to accomplish the desired results. It is our deep conviction that a thorough re-organization of our rural and village school system is the most important educational problem in this state, and that this great work should receive first consideration at the hands of our state officials, the General Assembly, and those engaged in educational work, at the hands of the people who live in cities as well as those who live in the country, and that the campaign should be continued until Colorado has an efficient and up-to-date system for these schools that is in keeping with the progress the state has made in most everything, else. Leading educators all over the country agree that the best system now In use for schools, such as are maintained in our third class dis- tricts, is what is known as the "County Unit." A few states have had this system in use for many years and nine have it at the present time. It is found for the most part in the Stfuthern states, where its great superiority over the small district system has been so clearly demonstrated COLORADO RURAL AND VlLLAQk SOUOOLtS iul that several Northern states are now working for its adoption. Bills embodying the naain features of this system have already been drawn, and will be introduced in the legislatures of these states the coming winter. Probably the best plan that has ever been worked out for .•. well- articulated system of public schools was drawa up by committees com- posed of some of the most prominent leaders in the field of rural educa- tion and adopted by the Southern Education Association and The Con- ference for Education in the South, at a joint meeting of the two or- ganizations held in Louisville, Kentucky, in April, 1914. Thirty-five states were represented at this meeting by delegates, all of whom were interested in rural education and all phases of rural life. This report, as far as it applies to elementary and secondary education, is here given just as it was drawn by the committees, and unanimously adopted by the two organizations named above. The proposed plan contains one thing which is applicable only to the Southern states — provision for a super- visor for Negro schools. This has been placed in parenthesis, and with this eliminated, the system fits the needs of all other parts of the country equally as well as it does the South. STATE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. General Principles. First: The administration of the state school system should be rep- resentative and democratic — responsive to the deliberately expressed will of the people. Second: The administrative boards should possess stability sufficient to enable them to determine definite educational policies and authority enough to provide for the execution of these policies. Changes in the per- sonnel of the educational boards should be gradual, never revolutionary. The executive officer of a board should derive his authority from the board itself, not from any other source. Third: The state and county boards should be empowered to select experts as state and county school officials without limitation as to resi- dence; they should be in the position to assure them a reasonable per- manence in the tenure of position and adequate compensation for their services; they should have authority, through their executive officers, to organize effectively the public school system of the state. Fourth: The state as a whole should guarantee an educational op- portunity to all her children, regardless of the wealth or poverty of the particular county or district in which they live. Administration. First: THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION. The administration of the state common-school system should be vested in a non-partisan state board of education, to be composed of not more than nine members, a majority of whom shall be educators, to be selected for terms of six years, these terms to be so arranged that not more than two expire in any one year. Second: THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION. The state superintendent of education should be elected by the state w A [(c) A (d) A (e) A (£) A 102 tJOLORADO AGklOULTUUAL UULLEC^U. board of education, who shall serve as Its executive oflacer, for a term of four years, and Ms salary should be fixed by the board. In addition to an adequate office force, the state superintendent should have as many assistants as may be necessary for the effective ad- ministration and supervision of the schools. These assistants should be nominated by the state superintendent and confirmed by the state board. In the Southern States the corps should perhaps include: (a) A State Inspector of High Schools. State Supervisor of Elementary Schools. State Supervisor of Negro Schools.] State Director of Elementary Agricultural Education. State Director of Homemaking Activities for Girls. State Board of Examiners for Teachers. Third: THE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION. The administration of the county school system should be vested in a county board of education, consisting of not less than three nor more than nine members, elected by the people for terms of six years, these terms to be so arranged that not more than two expire in any one year. Fourth: THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION. The county superintendent of education should be elected by the county board and should serve as its executive officer for a term of four years. His salary should be fixed by this board. The county superintendent should have a corps of assistants commen- surate with the school population of his county. These assistants should be nominated by the superintendent and confirmed by the county board, in the typical county the corps should include. (a) A county supervisory teacher for the elementary schools. [(b) A county supervisor of Negro schools.] (c) A county director of elementary agricultural education. (a) A county director of girls' home arts. Fifth: THE DISTRICT TRUSTEES. Each school district should have one to three trustees, appointed by the county board of education, to have charge of the school property and to serve in an advisory capacity the county superintendent and the county board of education. Sixth: THE SCHOOL DISTRICT. The school district should be, in some instances, a municipality, which may or may not be independent of the county school authorities. Seventh: RURAL SCHOOLS. The rural schools should deserve especial emphasis. The state and county educational authorities should put forth special effort to make them efficient. The following standards are suggested: (a) Each rural school should own at least ten acres of land. (b) The school house should be put to the maximum use as a center of the community's life. (c) The school should own an adequate home for its principal. (d) The principal should be trained in agriculture. (e) Each school should have at least one teacher who has had a practical training in domestic science and household economics. Financial Report. First: The state, the county and the school district should each sup- ply a proper quota of the funds for the maintenance of the schools. The state tax should be levied by the legislature, the county tax by the county board of education, and the district tax by a vote of its people. OOLOBADO BUBAL AND VILLAGE HOMOOLS. 103 It may be readily seen from the oullne given above, that oaly the oad general provisions for the organization, administration, supervision an support of a carefully balanced system are given. It was under- t. ood ana agreed when this report was adopted that each state should work out the details and adapt the system to best meet its own condi- lons and needs. This report was considered by the Educational Coun- cil of the Colorado Teachers' Association, at a special meeting called tor that purpose on May 16th last. It was the sense of that body that this report embodies within its provisions the most mature thought and the practical experience of many leading educators in this field of education, and that it expresses the soundest principles and the greatest wisdom of any system yet proposed tor the organization, administration and supervision of rural schools. Extended comment upon the provisions of the report are impossible for lack of space, besides they are unnecessary at this time. This scheme provides for all of the things found lacking in our present system. It recommends that ten acres of land be a part of the possessions of each school, to give room for all forms of play and serve as school farm. It recommends a comfortable home for the teacher on the school premises and as a part of the school plant, thus providing for permanent residence for the teacher within the district, at least dur- ing the school year, and encouraging! longer tenure of position. It sug- gests a modern school building, since this would be necessary for school entertainments, lecture-courses and other social center work in which the entire community should take part. It recommends that agriculture and household arts be given a prominent part in the course of study, and that teachers be secured who have had training in these lines of work. It provides for a scheme of organization in which each school, no matter where it is located, will be a part of a strong and well articulated county system, all under the management of one board elected by the people themselvs. This county system in turn is a part of a state system under the management of a State Board of Education and under the guidance and direction of a state superintendent and a corps of supervisors adequate to organize and superintend the work throughout the state. The county board of education would, and should have the powers and perform the duties that are now possessed and performed by school boards in our districts of the first class, which is one of the best school organizations in use in any state. This county board would employ the county superintendent for four years, thus taking this important office out of politics and providing, a salary commensurate with train- ing and experience required and the work to be done, and making it possible to get and to keep the best available persons for this position. The proposed system provides for a corps of county supervisors to adequately supervise all the schools in the county, so that the best methods can be introduced, the work organized, systematized, and each teacher could teach under expert supervision and guidance, whioh has long been done in all of our best city schools, but which has always I)een lacking in these country schools. The system could be so ad- 104 COLORADO AQRWULTURAh GOLLEOR Justed that taxes would be uniform throughout the entire county organ- ization up to the point of maintaining a uniform minimum standard for all rural and village schools, and if any community wished to have a better school than this minimum standard, it could be permitted to tax itself in addition to the county tax for that purpose. The idea being to require a reasonably high standard for all schools, and still not pre- vent any community from making their school as much better than this as they might desire. Of course, it is understood that districts of the first class, and probably those of the second, would not be required to become a part of this county system, but could be given the opportunity to do so if they wished. These are some of the things which seem most necessary to make our schools efficient, and while the system here offered could not all be put into operation in Colorado without a constitutional amendment, still most of it could be adopted by legislative action. The manner of electing the state and county superintendents would require a constitu- tional amendment,but this would not need to delay the adoption of all the rest of the system after it had been adapted to meet our needs and conditions. We are still operating our rural schools under the same system that was adopted when Colorado was a territory. When our territorial gov- ernment was organized this system was adopted from the laws ot an adjoining state, which in turn had borrowed it from one still farther east Thus we could trace it back from state to state, to Massachusetts where it had its beginning more than one hundred years ago. This primitive organization, which was made to meet pioneer conditions, still persist amidst all our Twentieth Century advancement and progress with less change than any other of our American institutions. The rural school is sadly lacking in building, 'grounds, and equip- ment. Its organization is weak and ineffective. Its administration is unbusinesslike ana wasteful of money, time, effort and the opportjnities of children. It is wholly lacking in effective supervision. The separate unit of organization tends to prevet helpful co-operation which is the key to the solution of many rural problems, and while many noble men and women have begun their education in the rural schools, overcome its difficulties and some of them hpve later risen to the hisjhest positions of honor and service, yet for each of those who have attained success, there were scores of others equ-iiy able and deserving, who might have added as much to the state and nation had our rural schools done for them what they might and should have done. The thought of nearly 50,000 children failing to pass the eight grades in the eight years set aside for that purpose, and of being compelled to enter the state ot manhood and womanhood, without even an elementarry education, is appalling. Education is not a local matter, but is of the most vital concern to both the state and the nation. Educaion tends to guarantee the sov- ereignty of the state, while isnor?nce is the greatest enemy of any people. If this view is correct, then the education of one child is as much the duty of the state as the education of another, and neither dis- GOLOHADO RURAL AND VILLAGE SGIIOOLS. 105 rict boundaries nor county lines sliould be permitted to limit and re- s rict the opportunities of children for the freest and fullest develop- ment for which they have capacity. "That there should one man die Ignorant who had capacity for knowledge, this I call tragedy," are the words of Carlyle, and the truth of the statement has not been dimmed by the lapse of years. Some people may hastily conclude from the figures given and the statements made, that the farmer and all others who live in these dis- tricts are wholly to blame for the condtions described, but this Is not our belief. In some respects these people are to be blamed but little more for the backward condition of their schools, thap are city people to be praised for the efficiency of theirs. The city dweller does not make his school good, but as far as this is done, it is done by skilled and experienced superintendents and trained teachers, and the greatest contribution of the city patron to this end lies in his willingness to pay the bills and in permitting those who have m;ade education their busi- ness to do the work. It is not hard to get people to support their schools when they are reasonably sure that the money will be well spent and the results will be satisfactory. The farmer did ,not make his school system, and he is unable of his own accord to reorganize it. If the farmer succeeds in his farm operations, in providing a home and in raising his family, he is doing all that should be expected of him, and all that is expected of people In other lines of work. He is not an educator and does not claim to be. His work takes all of his time and all of his energy, and anyway it is .not in his line of work, nor is it his duty either to make or re-organize school systems. It is the business of those who are engaged in educational work and of those who profess to be educators. So, it is our belief that the present inefficiency of these schools is not so much the fault of the farmer as it is of those whom he pays for this work and to whom he has entrusted the education of his children. The farmers of Colorado will cast their votes for a re- organization of their schools and will tax themselves higher for their support, when the teachers of Colorado, the county and city superin- tendents, all those connected with the state institutions of higher learn- ing, and all those engaged in educational work shall have given these farmers reasonable assurance that it will be to their advantage and that of their children to do so. They are not likely to do it on a large scale until this has been done. If education is not a local matter, if happiness and success in life depend upon the possession of knowledge, and of wisdom which is the result of training and experience; and if the success of a free govern- ment depends upon the intelligence of its citizens, there is no one who has had a better chance to know and understand this than those who make a business of education. They have viewed both the past and the present from the mountain-tops of opportunity. They are in possession of that knowledge, skill and power which are the priceless boon of education. It is their business to make or re-make school systems. If the educators of Colorado, who are in possession of the blessings that education is supposed to give and who know aad understand the blighting curse of ignorance, are not moved to action by the fact that 106 COLORADO AGRICrLTI RAL (JOLljEOH. more than three-fourtlis of the children who are entrusted to their care for education, do /not get an elementary education in the time which they themselves have allowed for that purpose, and according to stand- ards which they themselves have fixed, the blame for this does not all rest with the farmer. If conditions in these schools are half as bad as the figures seem to show they are, and if all those engaged in edu- cational work, from the country teacher to the professors in our col- leges and university are not willing to organize a,nd co-operate in a supreme effort to devise a better and more efficient system than we now have, and then go before the people in all these districts in an honest effort to tell them the facts about their schools and show them a way by which they can be greatly improved; if they do not do this, they are recreant to their trust and are lacking in the true missionary spirit; they are missing the grandest opportunity yet placed before them to extend a helping hand to their fellow ma,n and lead in the movement for better education for the country children, and thereby render the highest service to the community, the state, and the nation. TO WHO.M IT MAY COXCEKX. mio Is Concerned in the Rural School Proljleni? Life depends upon what man gets out of the earth. A nation is happy and prosperous In proportions as it applies intel- ligence^ industry and wisdom in the extraction and use of the earth's resources. Schools exist to increase intelligence, to stimulate industry, and to apply wisdom. The basis of our national life is agriculture. The Rural School is nearest agriculture. Through it intelligence concerning agriculture is to be increased, industry in agriculture stimulated, and wisdom in rural living applied. How about the Rural School? It is poorly housed; it is meanly equipped; it is weakly taught- it is miserly supported. It has the shortest term; it has the most irregular attendance; the school life of its pupils ends earliest. If, then, our national prosperity depends upon agriculture; if the product of agriculture depends upon the intelligence, industry and wisdom of the tillers of the soil; if that intelligence, industry and wis- dom depend largely upon the Rural School, AND IF the Rural School is weak and inert; WHOM DOES IT CONCERN? D. R. HATCH, Editor Colorado School Journal. Manufactuftd In I eAYLORD BROS,liic. Syracuse, N. Y. Stockton, Calif. ; .1 .