Overcrowding and defective housing in the rural districts . s that of construction:that entailing in turn the various otherabuses. With defective housing at home 70 Rural Housing and defective conditions at school, is itany wonder that many country childrenfall far below the standard of physicalexcellence? Is it any wonder that medi-cal inspection of rural schools showscountry children to be just as defective,in proportion, as city children? We usedto think that the country was such a goodplace to raise children! But a change istaking place, even in the country. Thisvery day I happened to visi
Overcrowding and defective housing in the rural districts . s that of construction:that entailing in turn the various otherabuses. With defective housing at home 70 Rural Housing and defective conditions at school, is itany wonder that many country childrenfall far below the standard of physicalexcellence? Is it any wonder that medi-cal inspection of rural schools showscountry children to be just as defective,in proportion, as city children? We usedto think that the country was such a goodplace to raise children! But a change istaking place, even in the country. Thisvery day I happened to visit a certaintwo-room country school (Fig. 14) plannedand built by a treiined architect—the firstof its kind in one of the rural counties ofPennsylvania. The large, light, airy, andwell-ventilated rooms are a pleasure topupils, teacher, and patrons: a vast con-trast it is to the old-fashioned, dingyroom of the past. Yet this township is noricher than any of its neighbors, but itsschool board is awake to the possibilitieswhich come from advancing Overcrowded and Defective Schools 73 The city school boards employ an archi-tect: why shouldnt we in the country?they reasoned. Nevermore in this sec-tion will the self-made contractor playthe architects part. It is generally conceded that a schoolbuilding should have about twenty squarefeet of floor surface for each pupil, con-sequently it is easy to draw the lineagainst overcrowding, by simply calcu-lating the number of pupils to be ad-mitted; but economic conditions changeand a room built for thirty frequently con-tains fifty. The air-space per pupil shouldbe between 250 and 500 cubic feet, de-pending on the means of ventilation: ifthere is no special arrangement for theadmission of fresh air, the greater air-space—500 cubic feet—^will surely not betoo much. In an ordinary country school—overcrowded, of course,—I have seenthe air-space as small as 100 cubic feet 74 Rural Housing per pupil, which is, without questio
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