125 



to SCO tlmt tlio traiiiiiiir of tlio hand and of tho iirartionl sense whioh may be 

 yivoii tliroiiKli instruction iliroctly related to industries is an essential and 

 valualdc feature of a eonijilete education and should he jjiven to all children, 

 whether they ar(> destined to make manual arts their life work or not. In other 

 words, the ideals of education should he chanjred so as to take in man and his 

 environment as a whole, rather than p.irt of m;in and iiart of his enviroinnent. 



Since it is for this ln-o.ader view of educ.-ition that the land-f;i':int collefjes 

 es|)ecially stand, they sliould actively exert themselves to extend the raiiw of 

 this new ideal of education until it permeates our entire ediicational system. 

 In doinj,' this thiw should not pt-rnnt the adherents of the old education.ilideals 

 to claim that the land-j;rant colleges favor an industrial as distinguished frimi 

 a cultural education. To set these two ideas over against each other is most 

 unfortunate. It is an education truly ;ind completely cultural that we should 

 demand, and our insistence should lie that no education can he completely <-ul- 

 tural which does not contain tln> manual or industrial element. 



I'nder the terms agriculture .-ind mechanii- ;ii-ts in their broadest applica- 

 tion may fairly lie included all the dealin.trs of man with the natural W(»rld 

 (i. e.. with the niiner;il kin.udom and with plants and animals) for his own 

 advantaj^e. and in a true sense ajjcriculture and mechanic arts are Just as nnich a 

 part of the common life of mankind as nuisic, l;injruage, or matliematics. For 

 this reason studies in agriculture and mechanic arts should he a constant element 

 of the entire educational system. In the lower schools we should not seek to 

 introduce teachinj; of particular ind\istries and trades in a.uriculture and 

 mechanic arts, hut rather instruction in those facts and princii)les which lie at 

 the l)asis of ;ill ;i;;riculture or mechanic arts and those ojierations which form 

 a natural introduction to all a.!,'rii'nltin":il industries .and mechanical ]iursuits. 



There is. I Judj^e. no necessity in this association to arj,'ue in favor of such an 

 ideal of educ-ition, for we are already connnitt(>d to it. The question we need 

 to discuss is how can we host exert our influence t() secure the practical ai)i)li- 

 cation of this ideal in our public schools. 



To make their activity for the iiromotion of newi'r idt-als of education effective 

 in connection with the remodelinji of our imblic school systeni the land-}j;rant 

 colle.ws should do si»ecific;illy the following thiufis : 



(1) Tht^-y should study the prof^ramnu's. text-books, and equipment of the 

 public schools and formulate <lesirai»le ch;ini,'es in them. 



C2) They should in variojis ways come into close touch with the school officers 

 and teachers and l)y precept and example strive to show them a better way of 

 educating the masses. 



(3) They should provide at the collej;es courses of study which will be 

 attractive to school o(tic<'rs and t<>achers. and by sunnner schools or otherwise 

 seek to brinsi such persons into direct contact with the system of education rep- 

 resented in these colleges. 



(4) They should turn the attention of their students to the im]»ortance of the 

 work of teaching and guide a considerable number of them into ])ositioiis as 

 school oflicers and teachers. This is very important. Hitherto the principals 

 and teachers in our public schools who have received collegiate training have 

 for the most part come from those colleges which represent the old type of edu- 

 cation, and their intiuence has been predomiiiant in our educational affairs. 



(5) They should instruct the counnunity through such agencies as the public 

 press, the farmers' institutes, and other organizations with which the college is 

 accustomed to work, regarding the changes required to improve and perfect 

 our system of public education. 



The movement for the introduction of the industrial element into our public 

 schools generally is already well under way. The elements of mechanic arts 

 (including domestic arts) and the elements of agriculture (including what is 

 commonly called nature study) are now taught in hundreds of public schools 

 in different parts of the T'nited States. In moi-e than 40 States the teaching of 

 mechanic arts (under the name of manual training or domestic science) in pub- 

 lic schools is authorized l)y law. and the same is true of agriculture in some 30 

 States. 



This industrial instruction has thus far been largely confined to the city 

 schools, but is now spreading to the villages and even to the country districts. 

 To secure a much wider recognition of the industrial element in jmblic educa- 

 tion, an active firopaganda by its advo<-ates will bring large results within the 

 next few years. In this work the land-grant colleges and the organizations 

 intimately connected with them might well take a leading part. 



