| Talks given on Education Day of the National Convention of the
National Catholic Rural Life Conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin October
15, 1946
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What Parents Think
Rural Life And Art
The Rural Elementary Teacher
From Urban Teacher To Rural Teacher
The Rural High School Teacher
WHAT PARENTS THINK
By Dr. Willis D. Nutting
Notre Dame, Indiana
Teachers are traditionally thought to have a sneaking desire to form
an association for the doing away with parents, and I am sure that the
teachers of my own children would like to become charter members. A
parent is certainly an embarrassment. If he is interested in his
children's education, he interferes in matters of which he knows little;
if he is not interested he is unwilling to co-operate with the teacher
in the little that is asked of him. In the one case he, or perhaps more
likely she, writes notes criticizing what is going on; and in the other
case he does not even remember to sign report cards.
Speaking as a parent who in his sober moments takes his job of being
a parent seriously, I want to discuss with you some of the possibilities
and some of the dangers that I think I see in our schools. This is of
particular importance in our modern society, for the school has to a
great extent taken away from the parent the supervision of the child's
training. If that supervision is good, then the parent can have much
confidence in the future of his children. If it is not good, he has
cause for great anxiety. And let me insist that the anxiety can be just
as great in a religious school as in any other: for in the religious
school as in the secular, the institution which looms so large in my
child's life is pretty well insulated from any influence that I may try
to exert on him. It is not easy in either case for me to exercise my
parental responsibility to supervise my child's education.
Is School Dangerous
When I speak of the possibility of the school's being a danger to my
children I do not refer at all to its efficiency in imparting the
subjects found in the curriculum. Most parents may be quite assured on
that point. Our teachers know how to teach their subjects. Children do
learn well how to read and write and figure. They learn their catechism,
and they learn the practice of religion. This is all to the good. As far
as the explicit teaching is concerned we have nothing to worry about.
But it is otherwise if we consider not only what is explicitly
taught, but the sum total of what is learned. There is in most
children's mind a tendency to resist what is taught, and a positive
genius for absorbing what we do not intend to teach them. Thus the total
result, in terms of learning, of a year of schooling may be quite a
different thing from what is described in the curriculum.
It is this extra-curricular learning which goes so far to make or
break children, to build them up into genuinely fine Christian men and
women or to give them a set of false values which can ruin them. It is
here that parents have a genuine reason for anxiety, for some of this
learning is quite beyond the power of the school to control and some of
it the school authorities refuse to consider as dangerous. This
statement does not apply to secular schools only.
What of Environment
The learning which the school cannot control comes of course from the
children themselves, and ultimately from the general environment of the
locality. If the ideals of the locality are good, then this gang lore
that the young pick up will on the whole help them. Many a boy has
learned ideals of honor, loyalty, and manliness from the gang he
associated with. But if the scale of values of the homes and the streets
of the community is low, there is no end to the harm that can be done,
harm that no amount of teaching in the school can effectively counter.
In such a case the only thing a parent can do is to withdraw his
children from the school, no matter how good and how well-intentioned
its teachers may be.
It is this irremediable influence of the locality on the school which
would make me, confirmed countryman that I am, hesitate to send my
children to a city school no matter what its apparent advantage might
be. There is in the urban environment such a mass of false values, such
an epidemic of harmful fashions and fads, that there is little chance of
a child's remaining long immune to the contagion.
Attitude of Teacher
But the extra-curricular learning that the child picks up does not
all come from other children. Much of it, and by no means always the
best, comes from those impossible-to-hide attitudes which the teacher
takes on matters that have nothing to do with the subject being taught.
There is no such thing as a pure teaching of mathematics or history or
English. The teacher is a human being teaching human beings. Along with
the subject to be taught, he or she cannot help imparting a whole
complex of values, points of view, prejudices, general philosophy, etc.
This is especially true when the pupils are young children whose
critical faculty has not yet been developed very far.
This being the case it is obvious that my child may learn, from two
teachers, whose competence in their subjects and whose religious
orthodoxy are equally irreproachable, on the one hand a set of ideals
which fulfills the aim of Christian education, or on the other hand an
attitude toward life which will make him a failure. He may become a much
better man than I could ever lead him to be. Or he may develop an
overweening respect for financial success and a social snobbishness. He
may absorb an athleticism which leads him to believe that no physical
exertion is fun except that put forth in games; he may find the idea of
winning money at bingo more attractive than working; he may come to
prefer the city sidewalks to the fields; he may come to believe that
loyalty to the Church means a carping criticism of everything not
Catholic.
You see then what I mean when I say that there is the possibility of
both great good and great danger in the school. You see that a parent
can very properly be anxious as to what the school, even a parish
school, may do to the children for whom he has the final responsibility
before God. You see why the school's being Catholic does not simply
settle the matter for him.
Teach This
I would like now to discuss with you some ways in which I hope my own
children's teachers will impart sound extracurricular learning to them,
and some learning I hope they will never impart.
First, with regard to the personal ideals of the children themselves.
Your attention has so often been called to the danger of a teacher's
luring a child from the country to the city, that there is no need of
our mentioning that at great length. The necessity of a sympathetic
attitude toward rural living on the part of the teacher you already
understand. The desirability of keeping young people on the land you
already know. If, knowing these things, you are able to impart to
children a love for the soil, a sense of the great dignity and beauty of
rural living, and a genuine respect for work and responsibility, you
will have done a great and enduring work.
But Not This
But there are impediments in the way of attaining this, impediments
which some teachers perhaps do not realize. An appreciation of work is
pretty well bound up with a conviction that you should work for what you
get, that success requires forethought and thrift and toil. It is quite
the opposite of the "something for nothing" idea. Now suppose
a boy finds at school an environment in which "something for
nothing" is the accepted formula for meeting expenses. The school
is built by bingo. The most obvious of its supports is the selling of
chances. Every bazaar is simply a series of gambling devices, so that a
good time becomes associated with the atmosphere of chance. The whole
thing is an admirable course of extra-curricular instruction in the
superiority of luck to work, and it is natural for the boy to draw a
conclusion from the course. You cannot teach a respect for work if you
yourselves use the methods of the gambler. Monte Carlo is not a good
school of rural living. If you make the school a Monte Carlo you lead
people away from the land, the place where honest toil is what is
rewarded.
Neither is the Pond's Beauty School a good place to train people in
rural living. Father Vincent McNabb has said that the problem of the
land is the problem of the woman. In my own experience in dealing with
young men I have constantly been told that it is all very well to
encourage young men in an interest in the land, but where will they find
wives who are willing to settle there? And they do well to wonder. The
propaganda of advertisers has been directed largely at women, and
educators have helped along the work, until the ideals of the pagan
"Great Lady" have been pretty thoroughly implanted in
womankind generally. These ideals are insulting to the female sex
because they would make of woman a mere attractive ornament. They are
anti-Christian in that they make a certain fragile physical beauty the
thing of most importance. They are clean contrary to the ideals and
practices of the Home at Nazareth.
And yet the Great Lady concept is quite popular among us, especially,
let me say, among Sisters. A fastidious shrinking from dirt and sweat
and some of the less pleasant processes of nature, an unbending
formalism in manners suited only to marble halls, an arty appreciation
of art that makes one depend on the picture gallery and the opera house a girl exposed to all this cannot go
to the land except as the squire's lady; and squires are mercifully
rather few in this country. Yet many girls come from the farm to
Catholic schools to receive this type of education, and they do not go
back to the farm. More then anything else, for the health of our
society, we need a completely re-oriented teaching of women. The most
important thing that we could do in our schools would be to create an
extra-curricular learning there which would give girls a right attitude,
an unartificial attitude toward those functions in life which it is
theirs by nature to perform. And I pray that my daughter, along with the
arithmetic and the geography which she studies, will get from her
teachers an extra-curricular reinforcement of those, ideals of womanhood
which we are trying to teach her at home. If they try to make her a
Great Lady I'll pull her out of school. I do not want her separated from
the soil or from toil, or from the common people that our Lord loved.
What of the Family
It is not only in a child's personal scale of values that the
extra-curricular learning absorbed at school is important for better or
for worse. His respect for institutions, and consequently the strength
of those institutions in the next generation, depends greatly upon the
attitude that he forms toward them at school.
We are told on all sides that the family as an institution is being
undermined. We are taught by Catholic authority that a strong family
life is essential to a sound society. Therefore every child should in
some way come by a real respect for the family, so that his own family
will be strong now and that the one that he will help to found in the
future will be healthy. There are a thousand ways in which a teacher can
increase a child's respect for his family, a thousand in which she can
help the family to be worthy of his respect. There is no greater field
for the exercise of her out-of-class influence.
What is wanted is to make the family a real society, a group which
its members are glad to belong to; a group whose members like to be
together, to work together, to play together, to worship together; a
group to which its members give their first loyalty; a group which gives
its members their primary sense of "belonging" and through
which they are integrated into larger societies. It is only that kind of
family which can constitute a healthy "cell" of the larger
society, only that kind of family upon which a healthy and permanent
rural Christian culture can be founded.
The primary efforts of the teacher in applied sociology must be
directed toward creating this family life among the people connected
with the school. She can encourage both parents and children in
embarking on experiments of family enterprise in the economic,
intellectual, and spiritual fields. She can suggest to them communal
undertakings in home production. She can advocate family discussion of
their problems, family reading of stories, family games, dances, and
picnics. She can urge family prayer and family attendance at Mass. By
all these helps, and many more, the family will be aided in becoming
more conscious of itself as "a vital entity in the world."
But just as the teacher can do great good by using her influence to
build up family life among her people, so she can do untold harm if by
her actions she tends to show disrespect for family life. The religious
teacher can do much more harm than the secular teacher can, for she is
more highly respected. Speaking as a parent, I think most of the harm
done to family life by teachers (and take my word for it, there is harm
done!) comes from this circumstance: a strong family, conscious of its
own entity, has a self-contained little world of its own. It has its own
time table, its own play, its own things of importance, its own way of
doing things. These idiosyncrasies are a necessary accompaniment of a
family's consciousness of itself. They are to be encouraged.
Competition
But a smooth-running school must have uniformity, not only in the
class room but in all its undertakings. It has a time table, a way of
acting, a way of dressing, an estimate of the relative importance of
things which is all its own. A child going to school is a member of two
worlds whose manners are more or less in conflict, and the stronger the
family life and the stronger the school the sharper the conflict is
bound to be. The teacher has the job of solving this conflict. She is a
specialist, naturally interested in the success of the school.
Therefore, unless she is very wise she is likely to solve all the
conflicts in the interest of the school, making little attempt to
understand or allow for the family's plans or wishes in the matter.
Because she has authority to command she tells the children to be at a
certain place at a certain time, to wear certain clothes, to bring a
certain amount of money, etc. No attempt is made to consult with
families, to iron out conflicts by compromise; and to sacrifice the
plans of the school to the plans of a family is unthinkable. The teacher
rides rough shod over the wishes of the family in order to secure a
regimented uniformity, and in some cases her success in teaching is
measured by her ability to do this.
Now consider the effect of all this on the mind of the child. For
twelve of the most impressionable years of his life he sees that
teachers who have the apparent sanction of religion behind them
consistently pass over his family's wishes as negligible. How can he
help coming to the conclusion that the family is not very important in
the scheme of things? How can he be taught to respect an institution
when his teachers show by their actions that they do not rate it very
highly?
It may be argued against what I have said that the school must have
uniformity in order to be successful. This may be true, but if it is
true it only means that the school can succeed only at the expense of
the family; and if it is a question of whether the school or the family
should succeed, there is no doubt that the answer must be the family.
For the family is a natural society. It must function if social chaos is
to be avoided. It is of permanent value and of permanent necessity. The
school on the other hand is a temporary expedient, growing out of the
peculiar conditions of the time. There have been successful societies in
which education has been carried on by other institutions. The school
cannot rank with the family in importance, and any pedagogical method
which tries to make it outrank the family is a violation of the natural
order. The wise teacher must take this to heart.
The Neighborhood Community
And there is another institution which outranks the school, and that
is the neighborhood community. The neighborhood community is the other
natural society, for it is natural for man to unite with his neighbors
to form a society bigger than the family. This is the sphere in which
his larger social relationships are carried on, and in which those
social, economic, and intellectual needs that cannot be supplied by the
family are met. This is the sphere, for instance, in which he normally
finds his wife, and in which he finds that small measure of competition
which is healthy for him. Larger societies almost always exist, but they
are temporary, more or less arbitrary, and rise from the circumstances
of the time and place. The neighborhood is natural and must be permanent
if society is to be healthy, for if a man has a strong local community
in which he feels himself an active member, he will not be integrated
into any larger and more impersonal society. A strong community life in
a neighborhood is especially necessary for the development of a rural
Christian culture. If we can build healthy families and communities, we
do not need to worry much over the larger societies. They will take care
of themselves.
Therefore the attitude of each person toward his community is of the
utmost importance; it makes all the difference between a good and a bad
citizen. The school, and particularly the rural school, has a serious
obligation to see that the children formed by it are prepared to take
their places in community life, that they have a social sense, a
willingness to accept responsibility, and a knowledge of when to
compromise and when to take a stand on principle.
Opportunities
Here again the teacher in a rural community has a great opportunity
to get in some good extra-curricular teaching in applied sociology. She
can show herself willing to co-operate in neighborhood action. She can
let it be known by her actions that although it is usually a good thing
to go along when the community plans something, there are times when one
must refuse. She can help direct community action in desirable things,
and can discourage wrong starts. She can implant in her students a sense
of belonging to a living society.
We must admit that this question of participation in community life
raises for us Catholics some problems on which reasonable men can
differ. Most of us, on the land and elsewhere, live in communities which
are not Catholic in tone. There are some things that our neighbors do
that we cannot do, and some things that we must do that they disapprove
of. Since we cannot share one hundred per cent in the life of these
communities, the question arises as to how far we should go in
participation.
There is in this situation a great opportunity and a great danger,
for the ordinary Catholic and especially for the teacher. There is the
opportunity of showing that Catholic truth and Catholic character are
things of power; that Catholic social principles supply answers to real
problems, and that Catholic people are good leaders and good citizens.
In the religious and social anarchy of the time we can take the lead in
this country, if only we can rise above partisanship, special pleading,
and petty resentments. If we can show the fellow members of our
communities that we have a genuine love for justice even when it works
against one of our own, that we are not out for power but for truth,
that we can recognize good for good wherever we find it, then much of
the prejudice that the community has for us will wither away and we can
take the place in it that our principles deserve.
But the danger is that instead of this we will cultivate the ghetto
mentality; that we will find fault with everyone not our own who tries
to do anything, and with everything that the community wants to do; that
we will see and mention the bad and ignore the good; that we will be
very fierce in our criticism and equally fierce in our resentment when
we are criticized. There is danger, in short, that we will show
ourselves to be the kind of people whom our neighbors regard, with
considerable justice, as impossible.
The teacher has a terrifying power for good or evil here. By her
general attitude toward what goes on outside the parish she can form the
position that the child will take with regard to secular society. She
can prepare him to become an influence for good, or even a leader in his
community, or she can turn him into a chronic dissenter, a person who
never does fit into the society in which he lives. It is pretty
important to me what she does with my children.
You can see from all that we have said how important the
extra-curricular influence of the teacher is. From the point of view of
man and society it is probably of more significance than her ability in
any special subject. You can see how important it is for parents to know
something of what this influence will be before they send their children
to school, and why parents have cause to worry greatly when they suspect
that the influence is not too good.
RURAL LIFE AND ART
By Sister Helene, O.P.
Adrian, Michigan
The farmer is an artist
Agriculture is his art.
Art, according to St. Thomas and his many modern commentators, is the
right making of what needs to be made. Rightness implies intelligent and
skillful making. Making is work. Work is the changing of material
according to its nature so that it will serve man better.
Art is not vapid theory but solid, practical work done as well as it
can be done. It is a virtue of the intellect. It is a sociable,
charitable thing. An artist is the maker of things necessary to himself
and his neighbor. Since he is created in the image of the Divine Maker,
he loves his neighbor and serves him willingly and joyously. If he works
true to his nature as man and maker there is goodness and beauty in what
he makes. His nature as man is both spirit and matter. His nature as
artist expresses that spirit through matter. The artist must express the
truth he knows. When he realizes the dignity of man he expresses it in
serving man. When he realizes the value of land he must express rural
truths. He may sing, he may dance, he may build and plow, he may paint
or reap to express it but the artist in him will do it well.
It is neither sentimental nor romantic to ask farmers to consider
agriculture as one of the basic arts of any Catholic culture. The points
made here are historical though their impact may be new. If, even in
urban situations, we aim to propagate rural thought, certain truths must
be accepted which are ignored by secular standards. "Where beliefs
are bad, unbelievers are the faithful." (Lethaby)
Art, by the Catholic definition given earlier, is rectitude in
making. Making is work. Good work is surely a form of the "good
works" to be linked with Charity. Agriculture is work. (Who can
deny it?) When it is so well done that it has beauty, truth, and
goodness in it we can speak of it as an art. The farmer is an artist. He
is an intelligent craftsman designing and making soil. He is a
responsible organizer working with seasons, temperature, timing. He is
disciplined and sure. A farmer's mistakes are spread over acreage. He
cannot afford shoddy craftsmanship. He is compelled to be an artist.
Now the farmer as man and maker must express his spirit through
matter. Love of God gives spiritual insight into the work of serving
others. This combining of prayer and work, the fullness of Catholic
life, comes with liturgical rural living. Then the farmer, the whole
man, sees himself joined to the wholeness of the Mystical Body. He
furnishes the raw materials for the corporal works of mercy when he
starts the cycles of food, shelter, and clothing. Yet even in charity we
are self-sufficient.
What the farmer produces as food often needs to be informed by the
culinary arts. The symbolism of wheat must be made into the reality of
bread. Flax and wool must be processed by the weaver to better serve the
needs of others. Secular standards ignore this corporate quality in art.
We cannot separate it from the corporate necessities in prayer. This is
what binds land and craft together. It is what binds families together
on the land. For the love and comfort of the family each member of the
family becomes a specialist at his allotted craft. The arts of
composting, canning, baking, butchering, sewing must be developed for
the common need. The family develops then according to the nature of
families. Development according to nature is culture.
Where there is agriculture there is a specific culture, the
development through common work of land and people according to their
rural nature. A culture is a spiritual unity among persons who share a
common work. Because there has been rural culture, we have known
centuries of rural civilization. Now we say a foot cultivated according
to its nature can dance and a cultivated tongue can sing. Yet we do not
ask the foot to sing and the tongue to dance. Too often we forget this
autonomy of culture. Those who would spread "culture" too
often base their standards on the so-called culture of the non-working
classes. Here we have deduced a Catholic definition of culture based on
the value of corporate work. Work is holy and sacred, advised as we are
to work out our salvation. If work is the common denominator of
civilization, is it not a kind of cannibalism to expect to live on the
labor of others? Yet we find those who measure the culture of the farmer
who works by the standards of the idle-rich. They talk of art museums
far from farms and of concert halls equally far. Museums and concert
halls are not the habitat of farmers. By the nature of their work,
homes, fields, and churches are their proper setting. Beautify and
glorify and magnify these if rural culture is to be maintained. And when
we say beautify we do not mean PRETTIFY. Beauty is a strong word so strong that only a virile,
God-loving farmer can understand it. We will not give him beauty by
suggesting that he read novels instead of seed catalogs. Let us make his
seed catalogs better to read. We will not give him beauty by lining his
road with theatrical billboards. Let us remove the billboards so that he
can enjoy the beauty of his roads. We cannot ask him to dance and sing
and dress according to urban fashions. That would demand insincerity.
Let us encourage expressions of culture in dance, song, and dress that
are rural and beautiful and sincere. The whole business of education is
cultivating man according to his nature and that was made for heaven.
Our standards are set according to how the Janes and Johnnies will
"get along in the world", salaries, position, power. This
attitude is in our unconscious expressions and remains inconsistent with
our doctrines. Look at the nature of man and congratulate the farmer.
The success of any farm is not measured in its produce, but in the
splendor (there is not a better word) of its order and integrity. Modern
ads and Sears Roebuck catalogs may be making even the farmer rich in
spirit but he still has the best margin for a Christian use of worldly
goods.
THE RURAL ELEMENTARY TEACHER
By Sister Mary Samuel, O.S.F.
Grafton, Wisconsin
Not long ago I came across an article in the Teachers' Digest
entitled "Apprentice to a Badger a Curriculum Fable." This is the
story:
One time the animals had a school. The curriculum consisted of
running, climbing, flying, and swimming, and all the animals took all
the subjects.
The Duck was good in swimming, better in fact than his instructor,
and he made passing grades in flying, but he was practically hopeless
in running. Because he was low in this subject he was made to stay
after school and drop his swimming class in order to practice running.
He kept this up until he was only average in swimming. But average is
acceptable, so nobody worried about that except the Duck.
The Eagle was considered a problem pupil, and was disciplined
severely. He beat all the others to the top of the tree in the
climbing class, but he used his own way of getting there.
The Rabbit started out at the top of the class in running, but he
had a nervous breakdown and had to drop out of school on account of so
much make-up work in swimming.
The Squirrel led the climbing class, but his flying teacher made
him start his flying lessons from the ground up instead of from the
top of the tree down, and he developed charley horses from
over-exertion at the take-off, and began getting C's in climbing and
D's in running.
The practical Prairie Dogs apprenticed their offspring to a Badger
when the school authorities refused to add digging to the curriculum.
At the end of the year, an abnormal Eel, who could swim well, run,
climb, and fly a little, was made valedictorian.
It may be that some of the things we are doing in our small rural
schools are a not too faint parallel to this curriculum fable. We
country teachers can be surprisingly inconsistent and illogical
sometimes. In our feverish effort to be sure that our schools are up to
par, we not infrequently expend a great deal of time and energy rather
unwisely. Perhaps our most incongruous endeavor along this line is the
way we handle our problem of several grades to a teacher. Often we
refuse to recognize the fact that methods under such circumstances must
of necessity differ from that of schools having only one or two grades
to a room. We country teachers have the custom of rushing our pupils
through a myriad of classes every day. We try our level best to do just
as much with each of our four individual grades as our city cousin does
with her one or two. Obviously it cannot well be done. But then, why
should we be so eager to follow urban methods anyway? Why not adopt a
technique and procedure that fits our own particular set up. We don't
need to apologize for our little country schools. The rural school is
truly an American institution and we should all be proud of it. It was
in rural schools that most of our great leaders of the past had their
beginnings in education. We have advantages that city schools may well
envy. Why not capitalize on our assets then and adjust our teaching
methods accordingly?
Average Day
When we sit back calmly and stop to analyze our average school day,
we first begin to realize what a really hectic program it is that we try
to follow. The daily plan for most of our schools runs just about the
same. We start our operations in the morning after Mass by having
religion. We then take fifth grade arithmetic class. Of necessity the
period must be short, but undaunted we rush our pupils through their
paces, trying feverishly to crowd as much of the year's outline of work
as possible into their little portion of time. We then repeat the same
performance for the sixth grade, and for the seventh grade, and finally
for the eighth grade. At the end of that time we find ourselves a bit
weary from the long arithmetic session, and probably none too gratified
with the results of the morning thus far. These short, hurried classes
are always vaguely unsatisfying. We sometimes feel rather discouraged
about it considering all the effort we have put into it. But we don't
have time to feel sorry for ourselves because we must hurry right on. We
dare not waste a minute every one counts too much. If we don't
keep one eye on the clock so we can follow our daily program right to
the minute, or if any unforeseen thing intrudes itself upon us, we find
that we shall probably be forced to drop one or the other of our
classes. And that really is a predicament; for making up a class
requires genuine dexterity. It takes plenty of mental and physical
agility to get the regular ones in. These little short periods of class
are indeed the nightmare of the rural teacher.
But it is time for English now, and there is another session of
highly concentrated teaching for the fifth grade. and the sixth grade,
and the seventh grade, and the eighth grade. We then direct our efforts
to reading. Possibly there are even more than four classes here if
remedial work is necessary. Next there are four separate classes in
spelling. In between somewhere we stop to give our penny milk, then go
racing on again with geography and civics and history classes; with
health or first aid or accident prevention; with art and agriculture;
with music which includes choir work, Gregorian Chant, and regular
school music; with CATHOLIC MESSENGER period and current events;
and with the extra odds and ends that are forever coming up to harass
the teacher.
Long before we are ready for it, the end of the school day swoops
down upon us. We are probably tired to death, tense and a bit on edge.
But we go right on and supervise the sweeping of the classrooms and the
halls, and see to it that the blackboards are cleaned properly and the
erasers dusted for use the next day. At the same time we try to give a
little extra help to some of the pupils or practice with the servers.
As soon as the last noisy youngster has gone down the stairs and
slammed the door, we attack our mountain of preparation for tomorrow's
classes. We so seldom feel that we do an adequate job; yet we wonder
what can be done about it. And then, since we are not only school
teachers but religious as well, our rules set aside about three hours or
so of the day to be spent with Christ in prayer. By rising at five in
the morning we are able to perform some of our religious exercises
before the stress and turmoil of the day begins. But there are prayers
we want to say at the end of the day, too. After a day like this,
besides being exhausted, one's mind is apt to continue going in the
little circles of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Then there is church
work to be done and all the little time-consuming jobs of administration
to be taken care of. When it comes time to retire at night, we feel that
the clocks in our locality definitely run about twenty minutes to the
hour and they go even faster during the
night.
Is it any wonder then that many teachers dread being sent to work in
the small rural school? They are afraid of the high tension program that
they will be forced to follow. It is a pity that so much of the pleasure
that our work could bring us the satisfaction which would make for
better teaching and learning should be so swallowed up and lost in
the clutches of a too crowded program.
Fewer Presentations
Some adjustment definitely should be made in favor of the schools
with a number of grades to a room, and such an adaptation is probably
not so far afield as it might be. One simple remedy would be to have
fewer presentations. I am not in a position to suggest what might be
done in the lower grades of our rural schools, but I do know from my own
experience and that of others who have tried it, that much fewer
presentations are possible in the upper grades than most of us take
advantage of. It is possible to cut down the number of classes that we
teach during the day to nearly half, and that is a tremendous saving of
both time and teacher preparation.
When I say that fewer presentations are possible, I mean that grades
five to eight could be united and taught as one class instead of four in
subjects such as geography, history, health, music, religion, and art.
In order to simplify the curriculum in regard to arithmetic, English,
and spelling, the seventh and eighth grades could be taught as one
class, alternating the subject matter from year to year. Although fifth
and sixth grade spelling could be easily combined, it would probably be
advisable to keep their English and arithmetic as separate classes. I
have been told by those who have tried it, that arithmetic can be
combined in these grades since the decimals required of sixth grade are
not so difficult as the fifth grade fraction work. Nevertheless, judging
from my own experience, I am inclined to think that it would be easier
for both the pupils and the teacher to treat these two classes
individually.
A Definite Plan
Perhaps some of you are wondering how it would be possible to unite
the four upper grades successfully into one group, and no doubt all
kinds of objections to such an idea come up for solving. The fact of the
matter is that not only is it possible for the upper grades to be
handled in this way, but as many of you know, a definite step in that
direction has already been put into operation in the Milwaukee
Archdiocese. After some of the schools had given this one-presentation
plan a two year trial in geography, it was finally introduced into all
the rural schools of the archdiocese last year. Toward spring meetings
were held in various localities for the purpose of obtaining comments,
suggestions, and other teacher reactions. The general consensus of
opinion among the rural teachers is that this procedure is very
satisfactory and one altogether in harmony with our needs.
The teachers' comments are interesting. Here is what some of them
have said about it:
"The joys of a one-presentation and not the burdensome feeling
of 'I haven't taken history with this group yet and the afternoon is
far spent' is a grand and glorious feeling."
"I have enjoyed teaching geography in this way. It aroused the
interest of the entire group regardless of grade level."
"I feel that it is of great advantage in every respect, both
to the teacher and to the pupils to combine grades five to eight into
one class for geography in the rural schools. The labor, time, energy,
and strain thus saved the teacher is by no means a small item."
I especially like that last sentence of this comment: "The
labor, time, energy, and strain thus saved the teacher is by no means a
small item." It seems to me that since we are so short on religious
teachers for our parochial schools, it might be wise to economize on
those we do have.
This last comment sums up the high points of the one-presentation
plan very neatly:
"It is most enjoyable to teach geography according to centers
of interest. In spite of the differences of age, there are many
favorable points for this method of procedure:
1. It gives the pupils more time for self-expression.
2. It allows the teacher more time to assist the pupils in their
study.
3. More time for preparation on the part of the teacher brings about
greater
enrichment for herself as well as for the pupils.
4. More drill for the younger pupils gives greater assurance to the
older ones.
5. It allows further research for the more advanced students."
Testimonies like these make one feel that this is indeed the right
road to follow, and serve as an encouragement to extend our efforts
along this line.
Geography Plan
Perhaps a brief explanation of just how the one-presentation plan is
carried out in the field of geography in the Milwaukee Archdiocese would
be in place here, since many of the details would be applicable to other
courses.
In the first place, geography was chosen for this experiment because
there had been much dissatisfaction in the teaching of this subject
particularly. This situation resulted because of the great amount of
material to be covered in the rural schools, and because, in following
the regular outline, many identical units were taught separately to the
seventh and eighth grades and to the fifth and sixth grades which might
easily have been taught in one operation. For instance, according to the
former outline, Europe was taught to the fifth and sixth grades during
the first semester and to the seventh and eighth grades during the
second. It was decided, therefore, to unite grades five to eight so that
all would be studying the same matter at the same time. The entire work
to be taught in geography was then divided into four major units, one of
which would be covered each year of four successive years. In this way
each grade would go through the cycle once during its stay in the
upper-grade room.
Since the texts, OUR WORLD and THE HEMISPHERES Branom and Ganey, are used, each grade
is reading on its own level of comprehension. The children are given
study guide sheets consisting of about twenty questions sufficient for one class period which they work out together under the
supervision of the teacher. The answers for some of the questions are
found in one text, others in the other text. But since the pages are
indicated, no great difficulty is experienced in finding the material
sought This procedure has the advantage of allowing each grade to
contribute from its own particular level. It also makes allowances for
individual differences. Sometimes the grades pool their books, and by
working together have a fine chance to compare the material in both
texts on the topic under discussion. This gives them the feeling of
covering the subject pretty thoroughly. Twenty such lessons are worked
out during a six weeks' period. After every six or seven lessons, a test
is given covering the material discussed thus far. These tests form a
fine condensed review of the basic essentials in each unit and are a
great help in preparing for semester examinations. Since the study
guides and tests come all prepared for each pupil, the teacher's
preparation is tremendously facilitated, and the geography period
becomes one of the happiest periods of the day.
Advantages of Plan
One of the most prized advantages of the one-presentation plan is the
luxury of longer class time. The tension of short periods of crowded
content is relieved, and relaxing the tension makes for greater pleasure
and more ease in assimilating the material taught. Since more time can
be given to the class, more thoroughness both in presentation by the
teacher and mastery by the pupils is assured. Then the rural children
have the advantage of working all in one group. This is of special value
to single grades with few pupils. It makes possible contests, races, and
other forms of activity in which the whole room can participate to
advantage. Then, too, while the principle of repetition as an aid for
learning still holds, nevertheless, sometimes a completely new unit has
its advantages. Staying in the same room for four years and hearing a
thing over and over tends to kill motivation in some subjects. Something
new and fresh can elicit greater attention and interest.
The lower grades are given a fair chance regarding tests. Although
all of the pupils in the room take the same test, the fifth and sixth
grades are not expected to master and retain as much of the material
covered as the upper grades. They are marked on the basis of the number
right over the number attempted which evens things up for them.
In order that this plan might not lower the standard of the whole
room to fifth grade level, definite enrichment requirements for the
upper grades are expected. At least twenty-five per cent of their marks
are based on the enrichment program specified for them. This consists in
activities selected on the basis of the concepts studied by the entire
class. For this reason, the rural geography has been arranged with a
list of activities running parallel to the content material.
This, briefly, is how the individual grades are cared for in the
present rural geography outline in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
Although it is only a beginning in an effort to solve some of the rural
problems, it is at least a beginning and gives promise of better things
to come. When the urge and drive and tension are taken out of teaching
subject matter, the time will present itself for those chance but
pregnant remarks and activities that will help our rural children to
think aright about their high privilege of living on the land. The
teacher will not then feel that a few minutes of spontaneous reaction of
the right sort is taken from the rigid program of ten minutes for this
and ten minutes for that.
There is no doubt about it; if adjustments are made to allow fewer
presentations in the schools with several grades to the room, rural
teachers will be able to give better and longer service to the
community, and the little country school will be a happier and more
livable place than it has been.
FROM URBAN TEACHER TO RURAL TEACHER
By Sister Mary Canice, S.S.N.D.
Butler, Wisconsin
Five years ago the National Catholic Rural Life Conference meant as
little to me as most organizations that did not actively imprint their
character on the convent life I had grown accustomed to accept as normal
living for a Sister. At that time I was one of the sisters who was
working out her salvation in a rather typical urban school. Through the
providence of God immediately revealed through our Reverend Mother, I
was told to report to Butler to reopen a school that had been closed for
a period of eight years. A new school was being built, and a new
challenge was given to our order. It is not necessary that I take your
time recounting my first reactions. They were probably identical with
the reactions that every sister has when she learns that she is moving
to another mission. I knew as little about the village that was to be my
new home as I knew about a crossroad in Connecticut. Gradually the
stories began coming in, and I found much to my dismay, that the only
thing that was going to seem familiar to me in my new assignment was the
habit of our order worn by the two Sisters associated with me. Of
course, I realized that Our Blessed Lord was there to guide and comfort
me . . . and too, I knew that there would be some children.
A Rural Assignment
Teaching in a two room school was more than an adventure. It seemed
to be rather lonesome at first, but before we realized it we liked the
rural atmosphere of freedom from city noises and smoke; then lest we
feel too complacent about our new found freedom, the furnace began to
smoke. All in all we were beginning to find many little compensations in
being where we were. There were serious drawbacks that constantly
haunted us. The limitations of equipment and facilities, the lack of
appreciation of the things we were accustomed to find in urban children,
and the impossibility to get all the work that was outlined to be done
completed in the required time were somewhat baffling.
Rural Life Institutes
Providentially as we were winding up our first year of
experimentation, the National Catholic Rural Life Conference held a week
of intensive indoctrination in Milwaukee. It proved to be the turning
point in our lives. We were able to talk, study, and mingle with Sisters
who were doing the very kind of work we were doing. Undoubtedly the
greatest aid that we got was the realization that there was a distinct
Catholic philosophy that enhances the dignity of farm life and rural
living. The practical helps we of the archdiocese of Milwaukee got was
the enthusiastic and scientific help of our Reverend Superintendent of
Schools. He was foresighted enough to appoint a curriculum planning
board for the relief of sisters teaching in two and three room schools,
and this board has set the pace for Catholic rural America in the field
of education.
Rural Education
There is a real need for even greater changes in our rural curriculum
than those already enforced, in order that more time may be given to
what has been thus far considered extracurricular activities; such as a
training in home arts and crafts as well as other matters which pertain
to wholesome successful farm life.
I am convinced that the growing generation will be prepared for that
wholesome life in the rural areas if we teachers, through prayer,
sacrifice, study, and direction inculcate a love for God's choicest
spots on earth the wide open spaces of the country.
Since our first experience with the Rural Life Conference in 1943, we
realize that education towards the city is largely education away from
real family life . . . the bulwark of Catholicism.
The rural teacher has one advantage over the urban teacher in as much
as she has more confidence in planning and giving instructions which
will be beneficial to the student fifteen years from now as well as at
the present time. This is real apostolic work it is teaching for life-rather than
for a diploma.
In order to give children now, that which they can also use later, we
are having craft classes which will not only be a means of profitable
recreation but it will enable our rural youth to exercise their
inventive abilities in the making of attractive things for themselves as
well as providing some of the little useful things about the house.
Christmas Crib Project
During the past year we worked out a Christmas crib project. The
cribs were to be made by the children in their own homes under the
direction of their fathers. When the project was being planned by the
class, little did any one of us think it would meet with the success it
attained. The date set for the assembling of the cribs was very cold and
even though the thermometer registered about six below zero, a number of
men walked to the church, a distance of as much as two miles, proudly
carrying "their crib" to the exhibit. The cribs were put on
display in the church hall where they were judged after the High Mass in
the presence of as many people of the congregation as could find
standing room in the hall. The judges found it difficult to award the
prize because each crib seemed to be outstanding in one or another
point. This project not only provided cribs for thirty-five homes where
there had been but two, but it also developed a desire to know more
about the birth of Christ, His birthplace and its surroundings. Through
the designing and the building of these cribs there was developed in the
family a common interest and pride which brought its members close
together at the feet of the Divine Babe in His birthplace on the
countryside of Bethlehem. This type of training will in time create a
desire for ownership in God's most favored spot, "the
country". There are other ways and means of fostering and
cultivating an appreciation for rural life; they are the study of art,
singing, dramatics, and instructions in the standard Red Cross courses
of first aid and accident prevention.
The Task
Instead of educating out students for life in the city we must try to
make them leaders in their own locality. This encouragement will be a
direct aid in helping them overcome that feeling of inferiority which
for some unknown reason has crept into their lives.
The students of our Catholic rural schools should be well instructed
in their Faith. Distance, the want of facilities, and accommodations are
no excuses for neglecting the instructions of our rural youth. Some
parishes have been doing a fine piece of work in Catholic rural schools
and in the instructions for high school students. However, the work of
the Priests and Sisters would be futile if it was not fortified by the
grace of God. One of the greatest means next to the Holy Sacrifice of
the Mass and the Sacraments, for the obtaining of God's blessing is the
enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the home.
What has the enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the homes
meant in our rural areas? Just everything it has stimulated a love of prayer, a
spirit of sacrifice, a greater devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, more
frequent reception of the Sacraments and a better knowledge and
appreciation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In a number of instances
where the Sacred Heart had been enthroned in the homes of parishioners
who had a careless member of the family, it was the means of bringing
back the stray sheep to the Church.
Our parish has been active in spreading devotion to the Sacred Heart
since the fall of 1942 and we are happy to report that at this time we
have reached nearly the 100% mark. How were the families prepared for
the enthronement of the Sacred Heart in their Homes?
1. Devout prayer on the part of those who hoped to introduce this
beautiful
devotion.
2. The school children were acquainted with the idea by witnessing the
enthronement in their class room.
3. The children brought the message into their homes and into the
homes of
their relatives and neighbors.
4. The ritual of enthronement was brought into the homes to be
enthroned by
the school children about a week previous to the date of
Enthronement, so
their parents could study the formula.
5. Suitable pictures for the homes were provided by the Sisters in
cases
where the parents found it difficult to obtain pictures.
6. The Sisters checked carefully with the children to promote devotion
not
only in their own homes but in the homes of their
neighbors.
7. With all this preliminary work done, it was a simple matter for the
Priest to
keep the Enthronement appointment that the parents made
through the
school Sisters.
We have undoubtedly come a long way in these past four years, but
there is still a long way to go; and those of us whom God so privileges
as to permit us to work in the rural sections of His kingdom, let us
"behold the fields for they are white for the harvest;" let us
"pray that the Master send laborers into His harvest,"
laborers after His own heart, filled with zeal for gathering into the
one sheepfold the sheep that gambol about in the green pastures of the
country side to which even He repaired when He wanted to commune with
His Father in prayer.
THE RURAL HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER
By Sister Mary Mark, O.S.F.
Granger, Iowa
This world of our passes through ages the cave man age, the iron age, the
age of science, the age of atomic energy, and in the scholastic sense we
are now in an "age" of higher education everyone is doing it, everyone;
parents, students, employer, and educator are demanding more. How the
rural districts are to meet these demands and yet not destroy themselves
must be of great concern to those involved.
There are many small high schools dotting our country sides. What
contributions and what demands are they making to the districts which
support them and in which they function? Is their value to their
community or to their students equal to their cost? Should there be
more? Must they be improved? What makes them what they are? One cannot
answer these questions until a careful analysis of the problems, needs,
and purposes of rural Catholic education is made. It is not for me to
answer these questions alone, but I shall try to present the what and
how of the teacher in a rural high school.
Problems
When a Catholic community wishes to provide secondary education for
its adolescent boys and girls and still keep them contented within the
family circle it must compete with its city neighbors. It must furnish a
place and teachers at its own expense so that it will be equal to the
city and at the same time meet the needs and ideals of the rural
community.
The teacher's educational training will have to be broad, for the
needs and experience of her pupils are broad. The teacher in a small
rural high school will have to teach several of these seven subjects:
religion, English, mathematics, science, history, Latin, and some
practical arts. If the school is planning for affiliation with the state
college, then she must have fifteen credits in the subject in which she
is teaching. That requirement is no small item on the list of the must-be's
for a teacher. Beyond that she should have some work in rural sociology,
rural economics, rural vocational guidance, conservation of natural
resources, cooperatives, marketing, handicrafts, agriculture, and home
economics conditions practically impossible to
fulfill within a reasonable number of years. Because these requirements
are seldom met, and because too often our interest is where there are
numbers, we have something less than the best of rural teachers in rural
schools. Whose fault is it? Well, the blame can be shared among several
groups. Urban-minded colleges, endowed with urban culture, seldom offer
rural courses for the prospective rural teacher, even when the courses
fit into her program of requirements for graduation. Teachers and
supervisors, not realizing that rural needs and culture are different
from those of the city, do not demand the needed courses in regular or
summer sessions. School authorities accept teachers without these rural
fundamentals. Religious communities have not adequately prepared
teachers specifically for rural schools.
Plan of Action
What can be done? First, we must realize that the needs and interests
of rural children differ from their city friends. Secondly we must have
hand in hand cooperation among church authorities, colleges, superiors
of religious communities, pastors, superintendents, and teachers. Under
the direction of the bishops, colleges could offer during summer
sessions courses of rural topics, prepared and given by specialists in
the respective field. Then if superiors of religious communities would
have some of their members specialize in rural education and plan to
have them stay in rural areas, the rural education would soon come into
its own. The support of the pastors and superintendents is vital. If
they demand that at least some of their faculty have this type of
preparation, then there will be improvement in rural teacher-preparation
and a better understanding of rural interests.
The teacher, whether originally from the rural areas or not, realizes
all too well that her general education is lacking in rural background
and would eagerly accept the opportunity to become better informed.
Attitude of Teacher
The subjects of agriculture, crops, soils, animal husbandry,
landscaping, floriculture, carpentry, electricity, and metal work are
beyond the sphere of most women teachers. In a Catholic rural high
school the priest or brother is the one to assume the responsibility of
these classes. In all classes, the teacher's attitude toward rural
living must be one of appreciation, understanding, and willing
participation. The attitude and understanding of the rural environment
will determine the success or failure of one as a rural high school
teacher. Bright lights, excitement, and noise must not be held up as the
apex of pleasure.
To develop a proper attitude is not too difficult if the
student-teacher grasps the fundamental idea of all teaching, namely,
that the needs of the individual student in the setting of his
environment must be the first and chief interest. The teacher's aim is
not to remove him from his present environment, but to help him fit into
and to better it, if need be, to help him see the best at hand rather
than the better or the less good beyond reach.
So much for the preparation and attitude of the teacher. How does all
this function in a practical situation and what results does it bring is
the point of primary importance.
The rural high school plant is seldom up to par when compared with
grade schools in the same locality or city high schools nearby. But
remembering that a school is not truly judged by its building, but by
the quality of its teachers and students, let the teacher make the best
of what is at hand and as the opportunity presents, lend herself to
improving whatever can be done. Often a sympathetic teacher's suggestion
will arouse an enthusiasm for improvement far beyond expectation. Then
with wise planning and very conservative expenditures, marvels will be
brought about. A good school is the best answer to keeping children from
going to public schools.
Curriculum
The curriculum which is of greater importance than the building is in
the power of the faculty. What can they do? What will they do?
In the schools which have an enrollment of a hundred or more students
the program can be so arranged with enough variety to care for the
interests of all the students without serious conflicts, if the faculty
is large enough. By the addition of one teacher, courses can be given to
meet both the demands of those expecting to follow purely classical
studies and those desiring practical sciences. But the small rural high
school, having between fifteen and fifty students, will have to meet the
needs of future Church and college students, the farmer, the home maker,
the professional and office employee, and the townsman. All these groups
could benefit from the subject matter of special interest to any one
group. It is impossible to cover all the subject matter for all groups.
So again a problem of selection and elimination confronts the rural
teacher. Thus what is an essential requirement for one group becomes a
cultural subject for another. By elimination of subjects beyond college
requirements, by the combination of classes and alternation of subject
matter, subjects of special interests to the group can be offered.
Equipment
Specialized departmental work requires special equipment. For home
economics cooking and serving centers; sewing,
fitting, and cutting equipment; an area and furniture for some house
furnishing and home nursing instruction. Crafts call for an entirely
different equipment stitching frames, looms, leather
tools, clay, plaster, stenciling and block printing materials with many
media for creative expression. For shop work area, tools, materials, and
opportunities to put the information into practical use, be it
carpentry, electricity, tool making, or welding. The needs for a class
in agriculture are greater than any other mentioned. Where an
experimental farm would be ideal for the large rural school or a
consolidated school it is impractical for the small school because of
cost, labor, supervision, and time that cannot be allotted to it. Better
would it be to supplement classroom teaching with extensive use of
government pamphlets, both state and federal publications and make
frequent field trips; but these latter disturb a school schedule which
must do much in little time.
The Challenge
Over and beyond all these needs spreads the atmosphere of the
teacher's attitude, as vital to rural youth as air and water are to us.
The teacher must deeply sense the reality of the close cooperation
between God and the farmer in his daily round of duties, the sacredness
of the land which, so endowed by the Creator, is the beginning of all
man-made materials. She must realize that the Catholics of rural America
are the future of the Catholic Church in America, that the salvation and
prosperity of our nation will come not from the busy, pleasure seeking
industrial centers, but from the industrious and nature loving rural
areas. She must in word and deed proclaim the dignity of manual labor.
So that the "educational programs will include an appreciation
of rural living, the use of the soil, production for home use,
cooperatives, home arts, and such other arts and skills as the
particular needs of the rural group requires" along with an
appreciation of the dignity and importance of manual labor, the high
school teacher must not only in isolated classes but in every class make
practical applications. Ample opportunities for such will be present in
economics, sociology, religion, science, practical English, arithmetic
and home economics.
That this may become a reality for all Catholic rural high schools
has been the desire of the Catholic Rural Life Conference for some time
past, and we hope that with our united efforts it may soon materialize,
for the benefit of the students and the future farm dweller.
Copyright:
THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC RURAL LIFE CONFERENCE
4625 Beaver Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50310-2199
Imprimatur: +GERALD T. BERGAN, D. D. Bishop of Des Moines
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