448 Bureau of Fa umiaks' Institutes. 



of those who determine the educational policy of the State is: 

 How shall it be met? 



And the conclusion first to be stated is that the proper education 

 to the rural people must be accomplished by some widespread in- 

 structional effort — an effort that shall reach every country school, 

 every grammar school, every high school and every academy to 

 which the sons and daughters of the farm have access. It must 

 be an effort, too, that has behind it the sanction of law and the 

 force of organization. To this matter the leaders in pedagogical 

 thought and the officials of our State departments of public school 

 instruction must give serious attention, not to hide behind the 

 difficulties and dogmatically declare that we are doing as well as 

 we can and that the old is good enough, but to devise means and 

 methods for bringing the subjects to be taught and the equipment 

 of the teacher into line with the knowledge and conditions of to- 

 day. Just here we are met by several objections. 



We are told that the present curriculum of studies is already 

 overcrowded and that fewer rather than more subjects should be 

 considered. Probably this view is correct. It is useless to expect 

 the public schools to find a place for all branches of learning. 

 All that can be done is to select for those young people whose 

 school education will end with the high school or academy, or 

 possibly at a lower point, the subjects most important to the com- 

 mon affairs of life. It is generally conceded that every child 

 should be taught to speak correctly, read and write his mother 

 language, to master numbers so far as necessary for ordinary busi- 

 ness, to know the simple facts of geography and only the simple 

 ones, and to understand the fundamentals of government and the 

 essential duties of citizenship. Beyond this the studies should be 

 those which best fit the person to comprehend and control his 

 environment. Can there be any doubt as to what these are for the 

 rural people % 



Are not the intricacies of the soil more important than those of 

 advanced mathematics ? Will aptness in grammatical analysis 

 make up for an insight into the wonders of plant life ? Is the 

 ability to draw an accurate map of one's own State more important 

 than some knowledge of the position of the organs of the animal 

 body and their functions ? While the facts of man's history are 

 useful and inspiring, does not the farmer also need to know the 

 life history of the species of plants and insects that are either 

 beneficial or injurious? There is culture and refinement in be- 



