Excerpt from Rural Education and the Consolidated School The author is convinced that the time has come when we must insist upon a full program of reconstruction from the ground up, and begin to build at once. The gist of the problem is to establish a new school in which the essentials of a modern education can be taught. The old school, as still found in over ninety per cent of the rural districts, does not lend itself to such a program; and no amount of repair, addition, varnish, or veneer will transform it into an efficient, modern institution. Rebuilding is absolutely essential. Some friends of the rural school advocate comprehensive changes in the curriculum and justly demand that the training of country boys and girls shall culminate in a complete industrial and vocational education, adapted to twentieth-century life. They are agreed that rural teachers must measure up professionally and otherwise to their colleagues in our best school systems; they recognize that salaries paid must be adequate to insure high-class training and instruction; and yet they fail to see that these things are impossible in an obsolete school system in which the first elements of success are wanting. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.