The Readjustment of a Rural High School to the Needs of the Community. Bulletin, 1912, No. 20. Whole Number 492

N

33

State Standards; Rural Schools; High Schools; School Community Relationship; Educational Needs; Public Schools; Taxes; Educational History; College Preparation; Agricultural Education; Home Economics; School Buildings; Gardening; Teachers; Educational Administration; School Libraries; Curriculum; Mathematics Instruction; Textbooks

Colebrook Academy is located in the town of Colebrook in a fertile and prosperous section of the Connecticut Valley, in the extreme northern part of the State of New Hampshire. The town has a population of about 2,000, and the section of the State is noted as one of the best agricultural districts in New England. At the beginning of its existence in 1832 the school received a grant of land from the State. For a time it was conducted as a private institution, but it had no endowment, and soon became a tax-supported school. Colebrook Academy retains its original name, but it is a public high school and is entirely supported by taxation. The school district in which it is located comprises only a portion of the town and has a population of about 1,200. From the time of its first approval as an accredited high school by the department of public instruction of New Hampshire, until 1910, the school had maintained the traditional college preparatory and English curricula. Up to that time it had been conducted in the original building in which it had begun its existence. In 1910 it was decided to reorganize the school on a new basis, with a view to providing a more efficient education for the country boys and girls in the section adjoining the school. Accordingly, a new building was constructed and a new program of studies laid out along modern lines, consisting of the following courses of study: (1) College preparatory; (2) commercial; (3) agricultural; and (4) domestic arts. In the work which Colebrook Academy is doing, three distinct aims stand out prominently: (1) A program of studies is offered which is adequate to meet the demand for universal high-school education in the section in which the school is located; (2) A large part of the program of studies is built up and organized around agriculture and home making, which are the leading activities of this particular community; and (3) The final purpose in the introduction of agriculture and domestic arts into the program as regular studies is to overcome a prevalent tendency to think of agriculture and home making as unworthy callings. An appendix presents: (1) Industrial equipment of Colebrook Academy; (2) Books used in teaching agriculture; and (3) Books used in teaching domestic arts. (Contains 13 plates.) [Best copy available has been provided.]

ERIC

2013

ED543044