nows little of history or literature, less of music, nothing of art,
and has but a superficial smattering of science. Of matters relating to
his life and activities on the farm he has heard almost nothing. The
rural child is not illiterate, but he is too close to the border of
illiteracy for the demands of a twentieth-century civilization; it is
fair neither to the child nor to society.

The rural school seems in some way relatively to have lost ground in
our educational system. The grades of the town school have felt the
stimulus of the high school for which they are preparing, and have had
the care and supervision of competent administrators. The rural school
is isolated and detached, and has had no adequate administrative system
to care for its interests. No wonder, then, that certain grave faults in
adjustment have grown up. A few of the most obvious of these faults may
next claim our attention.

_The rural school is inadequate in its scope._ The children of the farm
have as much need for education and as much right to it as those who
live in towns and cities. Yet the rural school as a rule never attempts
to offer more than the eight grades of the elementary curriculum, and
seldom reaches this amount. It not infrequently happens that no pupils
are in attendance beyond the fifth or the sixth grade. This may be due
either to the small number of children in the district, or, more often,
to lack of interest to continue in school beyond the simplest elements
of reading, writing, and number. It is true that certain States, such as
Illinois and Wisconsin, have established a system of township high
schools, where secondary education equal to that to be had in the
cities is available to rural children. In other States a county high
school is maintained for the benefit of rural school graduates. In still
others, arrangements are made by which those who complete the eight
grades of rural schools are received into the town high schools with the
tuition paid by the rural school districts. The movement toward
secondary education supplied by the rural community for its children is
yet in its infancy, however, and has hardly touched the larger problem
of affording adequate opportunities for the education of farm children.

_The grading and organization of the rural school is haphazard and
faulty._ This is partly because of the small enrollment and irregular
attendance, and partly because of the inexperience and lack of
supervisio