Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Improvement of the Rural School The improvement of the rural school is, at the present time, one of our most important educational problems. Although it does not present the same aspects in every state, no section is freed from the responsibility of endeavoring to, find its solution. It is not a new problem. Ever since the time of James G. Carter, and of Horace Mann, educators have called attention to the deficiencies of the coun try school. The counts in the indictment which have been brought against it through all these years differ but little, unattractive sites, miserable buildings, insufficient equipment, poorly prepared and poorly paid teachers, inadequate and incom petent supervision, unevenly distributed enrollment, irregular attendance, meager curriculum, and a poorly conducted school. Although it is true that much progress has been made in these particulars during the past three - quarters of a century, and although in certain localities conditions are con sidered fairly satisfactory, the need for reform is more strongly and more generally expressed to - day. 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.