RURAL LIFE
AND THE RURAL SCHOOL
BY
JOSEPH KENNEDY
DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO
Copyright, 1915, by
JOSEPH KENNEDY
copyright, 1915, in Great Britain
Rural Life and the Rural School
W. P. 2.
PREFACE
This volume is addressed to the men and women who have at heart theinterests of rural life and the rural school. I have tried to avoiddeeply speculative theories on the one hand, and distressingly practicaldetails on the other; and have addressed myself chiefly to theintelligent individual everywhere—to the farmer and his wife, to theteachers of rural schools, to the public spirited school boards,individually and collectively, and to the leaders of rural communitiesand of social centers generally. I have tried to avoid the two extremeswhich Guizot says are always to be shunned, viz.: that of the "visionarytheorist" and that of the "libertine practician." The former isanalogous to a blank cartridge, and the latter to the mire of a swamp orthe entangled underbrush of a thicket. The legs of one's theories (asLincoln said of those of a man) should be long enough to reach theearth; and yet they must be free to move upon the solid ground of factand experience. Details must always be left to the person who is to dothe work, whether it be that of the teacher, of the farmer, or of theschool officer.
I am aware that there is a veritable flood of books on this and kindredtopics, now coming from the presses of the country. My sole reasons forthe publication of the present volume are the desire to deliver the[Pg 4]message which has come to fruition in my mind, and the hope that it mayreach and interest some who have not been benefited by a better and moresystematic treatise on this subject.
By way of credential and justification, I would say that the message ofthe book has in large measure grown out of my own life and thought; forI was born and brought up in the country, there I received my elementaryeducation, and there I remained till man grown. Practically every kindof work known on the farm was familiar to me, and I have also taught andsupervised rural schools. These experiences are regarded as of thehighest value, and I revert in memory to them with a satisfaction andaffection which words cannot express.
If there should seem to be a note of despair in some of the earlierchapters as to the desired outcome of the problems of rural life and therural school, it is not intended that such impression shall be completeand final. An attempt is made simply to place the problem and the factsin their true light before the reader. There has been much "palavering"on this subject, as there has been much enforced screaming of the eaglein many of our Fourth of July "orations." I feel that the firstrequisite is to conceive the problems clearly and in all seriousness.
If these problems are to be solved, true conceptions of values must beestablished in the social mind. Many present conceptions, like those ofthe personality of the teacher, standards for teaching,supervision, school equipment...