and in many States considerably below this amount. This
requires that half of the rural teachers each year shall be beginners.
It will be impossible, of course, as long as teaching is done so largely
by girls, who naturally will, and should, soon quit teaching for
marriage, to secure a long period of service in the vocation. Yet the
rural school is, as we have seen, also constantly losing its trained
teachers to the town and city, and hence breaking in more than its share
of novices.

Added to the disadvantage inevitably coming from the brief period of
service in teaching is a similar one growing out of a faulty method of
administration. In a large majority of our rural schools the contract is
made for but one term of not more than three months. This leaves the
teacher free to accept another school at the end of the term, and not
infrequently a school will have two or even three different teachers
within the same year. There is a great source of waste at this point,
owing to a change of methods, repetition of work, and the necessity of
starting a new system of school machinery. Industrial concerns would
hardly find it profitable to change superintendents and foremen several
times a year. We do this in our schools only because we have not yet
learned that it pays to apply rational business methods to education.

Nothing that has been said in criticism of rural teaching ought to be
construed as a reflection on the rural teachers personally. The fact
that they can succeed as well as they do under conditions that are so
adverse is the best warrant for their intelligence and devotion. It is
not their fault that they begin teaching with inadequate knowledge of
subject-matter, with ignorance of the nature of childhood, and without
skill in the technique of the schoolroom. The system, and not the
individual, is at fault. The public demands a pitifully low standard of
efficiency in rural teaching, and the excellence of the product offered
is not likely greatly to surpass what society asks and is ready to pay
for.

Once again we must turn to the consolidated school as the solution of
our difficulty. The isolated district school will not be able to demand
and secure a worthy grade of preparation for teaching. The educational
standards will not rise high enough under this system to create a public
demand for skilled teachers. Nor can such salaries be paid as will
encourage thorough and extensive study and preparation for teachin