The Growth of Children in Consolidated and One-Room Rural Elementary Schools

Every community, rural and urban alike, faces the problem of providing for the development of its children, youth, and adults. In providing for the school environment in rural communities two general plans have been adopted. One plan is based on the traditional, small, usually one-room school; the other on a consolidation of many districts into one large unit. It is generally assumed in professional circles that the consolidated school is the superior of the two environments. In spite of this the growth of consolidation has proceeded slowly. Furthermore there appears in the mind of many tax-payers and parents the contrary assumption that the little Red School House has unique values in human development, that consolidation may be a mistake and that it isn\u27t worth the cost. Just what these values are has never been clearly demonstrated

An Experimental Study of the Development of Democratic Behavior

Psychologists are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of an analysis of complex social phenomena, especially in the area of democratic behavior. If we wish to know how democratic behavior develops, and how its development can be controlled, we must be able to evaluate the effects of various types of experiences on its growth and ultimate pattern. It is the purpose of this paper to describe briefly a series of tests which have been devised to study democratic behavior at the elementary school level, and to indicate the effects on behavior of certain special experiences that have been introduced