In the public mind there is a prejudice against teachers. This prejudice is the outgrowth of child impressions; those who have had teachers who saw life from the child's viewpoint will, when they reach adult life, seek rather than shun the companionship of teachers. In substantiation of these statements the reader is asked to recall his own experience, his recollections of a favorite uncle-his recollections of the harsh and unsympathetic uncle. The former may never have risen high in the estimation of his fellowmen-the latter is a bad man, regardless of the public approbation. So much for early impressions-they are for life, and their obliteration is impossible.

It is all important that teachers win the love and respect of children if they would teach them. This is not a new idea, but it is a true one and one so important that no teacher can afford to ignore it. To win child love and respect requires first of all, real sympathy for child life, and second, strict honesty. There is no possibility of one's escaping detection who is lacking in either sympathy or honesty.

CHAPTER XIX

TRAINING FOR LEISURE

THE business of farming is of such a nature that it offers more time for self-improvement than do most other occupations. It is generally conceded that the rural school has not made as great progress as the city school, and this is due largely to the fact that less effort has been made to improve rural schools. Rural people have left the betterment of their schools to educators. In this way they have made a vital mistake; for it is a problem that must be worked out not by the educators alone, but also by those most interested, or relief will not be found.

In the city schools great changes have been effected, but how? Comprehensive and practical courses of study have been introduced, not suddenly, but only after decades of agitation. They have come through the very slow processes of evolution, from causes in which the educator can find but small comfort; since little change has come that is not traceable to external influence. Apparently none have been slower to see the demands of the world than the educator.

Great and important changes will come to the rural school, but how great, how important, and how soon, depend almost entirely upon active and per

sistent agitation of rural people. The rural communities are possessed of a provident citizenship and are to-day facing the greatest of the world's opportunities. They are feeding the world, but they are not teaching the world or leading the world. They have, however, potentialities awaiting liberation which will give to the world greater educators and greater leaders. These powers are not long to remain inactive, and already expressions of discontent and unrest are heard from every quarter.

The most encouraging sign of the times is that the need of better schools is being generally recognized by the rural people themselves, as everywhere, on every hand, their cry is going up, Our schools are inadequate. They turn out students who are unable to cope with the world's problems."

Never before has there been greater demand for schools that prepare the boys and girls for the life which they are to lead, and, generally speaking, preparation means the ability to make a living.

We are witnessing as never before the drift of rural people to the cities; indeed, this movement has become so great as to occasion national alarm, and everywhere the question is being asked, "How can the tide be turned?" "How can the boy and girl who are discontented with rural life be made contented and glad of an opportunity to remain on the farm instead of going to the city?"

Boys and girls who are country bred and who are inclined toward the city will answer, if you ask why they are leaving the farm, that they want more lucrative employment, that they want shorter hours, that they want better social opportunities. If the mothers of these boys would be asked why they encourage this movement toward the city they will reply, "We want all these things for our children. We want better educational advantages, we want for ourselves better homes, we want to be able to live at least as well as the poor of the town."

Generally speaking the interests of the small town are distinctively agricultural. Towns of 2500 and less are not cities in a proper sense of the term, nor can their schools be city schools, and to devote them solely to the interests of city people is as unjust as it is absurd. The schools of the small towns are the logical centres for the first rural graded schools. These places can with properly revised courses of study administer first aid, and when they have been made to function with the activities of the lives of the people whom they are to serve, one great public service will have been rendered. People, whether they live in the rural town or in the open country, are entitled to such schools.

The educational demands of the present should be for the betterment of educational advantages for rural people. Cities have safeguarded their educa

tional interests, and will continue to do so, and unless there be a general awakening of rural people the superiority of city schools over rural schools will become more marked.

The demands of the times are for a higher education. If our fathers gave us but a high school education they did no more for us than did their fathers for them when they gave them but a common school education, and to do as well by our children as our parents did by us we should give them a college education.

Many a father is heard to say, "I had but a common school education and what was good enough for me is good enough for my son." This is honestly expressed, but it is untrue. The competition of to-day calls for better preparation. Furthermore, we have no more cheap lands in the United States making it possible for one to get an easy start. Those of the present who justify present conditions by the statement, "It's always been so; the schools of now were good enough for our parents, were good enough for us and are good enough for our children," do not realize the great social and economic changes that have come to the last two generations. By those who are sufficiently interested to study conditions it is recognized as meaning more, right now, to fill a place in the business world than at any other time in the history of our nation. Competition is