e the desire to deliver the
message which has come to fruition in my mind, and the hope that it may
reach and interest some who have not been benefited by a better and more
systematic treatise on this subject.

By way of credential and justification, I would say that the message of
the book has in large measure grown out of my own life and thought; for
I was born and brought up in the country, there I received my elementary
education, and there I remained till man grown. Practically every kind
of work known on the farm was familiar to me, and I have also taught and
supervised rural schools. These experiences are regarded as of the
highest value, and I revert in memory to them with a satisfaction and
affection which words cannot express.

If there should seem to be a note of despair in some of the earlier
chapters as to the desired outcome of the problems of rural life and the
rural school, it is not intended that such impression shall be complete
and final. An attempt is made simply to place the problem and the facts
in their true light before the reader. There has been much "palavering"
on this subject, as there has been much enforced screaming of the eagle
in many of our Fourth of July "orations." I feel that the first
requisite is to conceive the problems clearly and in all seriousness.

If these problems are to be solved, true conceptions of _values_ must be
established in the social mind. Many present conceptions, like those of
the _personality_ of the teacher, _standards_ for teaching,
_supervision_, school _equipment_, _salary_, etc., must first be
_dis_-established, and then higher and better ones substituted. There
will have to be a genuine and intelligent "tackling" of the problems,
and not, as has been the case too often, a mere playing with them. There
will have to be some real statesmanship introduced into the present
_laissez-faire_ spirit, attitude, and methods of American rural life and
rural education. The nation in this respect needs a trumpet call to
action. There is need of a chorus, loud and long, and if the small voice
of the present discussion shall add only a little--however little--to
this volume of sound, there will be so much of gain. This is my aim and
my hope.

JOSEPH KENNEDY

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA

CONTENTS

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CHAPTER I. RURAL LIFE 9

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