53 



Election of Officers. 



W. L. Amoss, of Maryland, read the report of the committee on nominations, con- 

 sisting of W. L. Amoss, E. E. Kaufman, of North Dakota, and F. II. Mali, of Illinois, 

 as follows: 



Your committee on nominations reports as follows: For president, ii. C. Creelman, 

 of Guelph, Canada; vice-president, W. W. Miller, of Ohio; secretary and treasurer, 

 John Hamilton, of Washington, D. C. ; executive eomiuittee, J. G. Lee, of Louisiana; 

 F. H. Hall, of Illinois, and \V. L. Amoss, of Maryland. 



The report was adopted and the ottieers named cU'clared elected. 



At 11.45 o'clock a. m. the association adjourned until 8 o'clock p. m. 



At 12 o'clock noon the memhcrs of the association were received hy the President 

 of the Tnited States. 



EvEXiNc Session, Friday, N'ovKMnEU 1(», IHOo. 



The convention met at 8 o'clock p. m. at the National Hotel, the vice-jjresident, 

 E. A. Burnett, in the chair. 



W. M. Hays, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, was introduced, and spoke as fol- 

 lows on the suhject of consolidate*! schools: 



CONSOLIDATED RURAL SCHOOLS. 



The United States has been a remarkably fertile and an extensive field for experi- 

 ments in systems of education. For city life three classes of schools, articulated into 

 a unified whole, have well-nigh occuj)ied the entire tield. Elementary education 

 lur nearly all city and village pupils has been supplied by the city graded schools; 

 the city high schools provide secondary education of a general character to large 

 numbers and industrial education and technical education to a small nund)er. State 

 universities and State colleges, excejit in the older Statt-s, have become the distinctive 

 institutions for the higher technical and profes.sional learning of that comparatively 

 small number who enter the professions. The public graded schools are supple- 

 mented by parochial and private schools; the high schools are sui)plemented by 

 academies, business schools, and other institutions of secondary grade, and the 

 institutions for higher learning are supplemented by universities and colleges not 

 supported by public funds. 



Education in the primary graded schools is taking a somewhat more practical 

 turn, as is indicated in the development of nature-stu(Jy courses, manual training, 

 and industrial work. Public high schools are giving more attention to the practical 

 affairs of the city life. Our institutions of higher learning are paying more attention 

 to the preparation of teachers for instruction in practical lines in the secondary and 

 primary schools, and there is a tendency all along the line to give more time and 

 attention to the industrial and technical work which nearly all city-born people 

 must of necessity engage in. 



A system of schools for country-life education was started when Congress passed 

 the act which resulted in the establishment of land-grant colleges of agriculture and 

 mechanic arts in each State. Thus taking the lead, Congress turned the attention 

 of educators toward specific instruction for those who are to manage farms and farm 

 homes. These agricultural colleges, planted among the old-line institutions of the 

 country, are requiring half a century for their organization so as to lead efficiently 

 in country-life education. A goodly proportion of them have already reached a per- 

 manent status in their work and are turning out both agricultural technicians and a 

 fair number of farmers technically educated for their business. Under some of 

 these colleges a system of agricultural high schools is being developed, also numerous 

 short _ courses, but the movement to carry some of the more important elements of 

 technical education along the lines of country-life affairs to the elementary rural 

 .schools has gone forward but slowly. 



To be as well adjusted as are the three classes of schools for city life, the colleges 

 of agriculture, agricultural high schools, and rural schools, both consolidated and 

 isolated, need to be articulated into a unified system. An agricultural college in 

 each State, an agricultural high school in each ten counties or even one in each 



