94 



ilogroo course, but practice in butler making us illustrative of certain scientiflc 

 principles is. doubtless, properly included in a degree course in agricultiu-e. 

 Other examples might be given, wherein the puri)ose behind the administra- 

 tion of a given sul).1ect might be regardetl as the sole reason for its retention 

 in a degree course. 



With this prelinunary survey of the limitations of a degree course we may 

 possibly oiitain some clearer idea of the possibility of a degree course in house- 

 hold scienci'. It is indicative of the confusion surrounding this subject that 

 we have no general term for designating it. If. therefore. 1 refer to d<miesti(; 

 science or household science or domestic economy or home economics or house- 

 hold economy or domestic art. as I may do indiscriminately, I mean always the 

 same thing, viz. that field of activity, tacitly reserved for women, of feeding, 

 clothing, nursing, sheltering, and entertaining their fellow human beings. It 

 is a wide held beyond a doubt, and one amenable to the good offices of educa- 

 tion of all kinds — general, technical, scientific, humanitarian, secular, religious, 

 metaphysical, and material. Oiu' homes are touched b.v all human learning, 

 and the home maker and manager may well contemplate a broad training in 

 preparation for all the duties and responsibilities pertaining thereto. From 

 the educational standiioint the problem of training women for greater effi- 

 ciency in the administration and execution of domestic affairs is comparable 

 with that of training men for greater efficiency in the pursuit of farming. 

 Roth occuiiations are fundamentally related to the wellbeing of society : both 

 engage the attention of great numbers of ])ersons; both involve, in addition to 

 manual skill, administrative ability of a high order: both involve the ajiplica- 

 tion of scientific iirinciples to an unusual extent. In l)()th we find the field 

 already occujjied by those without special education, who. in their own estima- 

 tion at least, ai-e achieving a satisfactory degree of success. As in farming, 

 so in housekeeiiing there is a large amount of purely manual labor which must 

 always l)e i)erformed for small wages. Neither the character of this worl< 

 nor the com])ensation nn-eived for it will justify a costly preparatory education. 

 A fair degi'ee of manual training is the most that can l)e expected to this end. 

 and. indeed, is the best suited thereto. It is painfully evident that the social 

 conditions in this country are already such that few of the n.itive born are 

 content to render manual service of any kind, much less to avail themselves of 

 any systematic training for such a career. 



T'nfortunately for the good of society, as well as for the higher development 

 of farming and domestic- life, many are willing to boss and l^w to lal)oi-. To 

 what extent our educational system is responsible for this il is impossible to 

 say. but I am sure these conditions would be improvevl did our jmblic schools 

 concern themselves more with training children in industrial and mainial opera- 

 tions in i)reparation for a career of activity which, naturally, the greater num- 

 ber of them will follow, and that our colleges should leave this field of instruc- 

 tion to the public schools and to the yoiinger pupils therein. 



In both farming and domestic affairs there are, therefore, the divisions of 

 operation and of administration, the requirements for which aro in e.-ich case 

 quite distinct. While in many instances these two functions nuist be united in 

 the same pei'son. the decided tendency is to separate them. Preparation for the 

 oiierative function is a matter of manual training and personal experience 

 which ought to be aided by systematic school training, rrep.-iration for the 

 administrative side of farming or housekeeping means a wide knowledge of the 

 sciences, arts, and letters, in general as well as in their application to the par- 

 ticular pursuit. This is the sco])e or field of degree courses as o/dinarily admin- 

 istered in preparation for other lines of hum.m activity, and it se(MUs reasonable 

 to expect a similar and consistent method in dealing with agricultiii-" and house- 

 hold occupations. 



Engineering colleges concern themselves only incidentally wirh instruction 

 in ni:inual oju'i-ations in degree courses. They do not seek to train mechanics 

 or artisans, but rather to train men who shall i)lan and administer the work 

 which is to be performed by such. The agricultural colleges are approaching a 

 like standard as to their degree courses, although tiie stage of the art and the 

 present develoi)ment of agricultural (>ducation will scarcely i)ermit. as yet, 

 curricula which, even in the most adv.inced institutions', are free from subjects 

 of manual training character, although in the main their degree courses are 

 composed of scientific and cnltur.-il cliMiients. 



Domestic science, as (•onq)anMl with agricnltur(> or the nu'chanic arts, is still 

 in the early stages of develoi)ment ;is .1 field for ednc-itional etfort. The situa- 

 tiou is quite like that which existed in agricultural education m its early days, 



