220 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



ART AND HANDWORK IN RURAL SCHOOLS. 



(Miss Ella Victoria Dobbs, Department of Manual Arts, University of Missouri.) 



The word "Art" to most people stands first 

 of all for pictures, and next, perhaps, for certain 

 fanciful decorations which are not at all neces- 

 sary, but are supposed to make the things deco- 

 rated "pretty." From this standpoint we may or 

 may not use art in our surroundings as inclina- 

 tion prompts us. A great many people never 

 think of art as a universal element which enters 

 into every most commonplace part of our daily 

 lives whether we think about it or not. Art is 



Miss Dobbs. ,, , • jj i • ^ • ^ ■ ' j_ 



the element oi beauty which enters mto every 

 thin^ we do, which we either use or abuse at every turn. It has 

 more to do with the form and proportions of things than with the 

 decorations placed on them. It has much to do with the clothes 

 we wear and the houses we live in. It concerns the food we eat 

 and the way it is served. Some one has said, "Art is the best way 

 of doing whatever needs to be done," and if this is true the teach- 

 ing of art in any school is not an extra or special subject, or a sort 

 of luxury, but a very important necessity. 



In discussing some of the possibilities in the study of art and 

 handwork in, the rural school, the writer assumes that the teacher 

 of the school has had some training in this field, since no teacher 

 can be called well equipped without it. It is also assumed that the 

 teacher's "good taste" is equal to or a little above that of the best 

 families in the district, since no wise and thoughtful school board 

 would select a teacher who was not capable of at least maintaining 

 the standards already reached by the community. The study of 

 art in the school ought to awaken in each pupil a desire for a 

 higher standard of living and give him some practical assistance 

 in realizing his desire. It should, therefore, be very closely con- 

 nected with the everyday affairs which make up life. The work 

 of the classroom should go on under the most beautiful conditions 

 possible and should constantly suggest ways of making life outside 

 the school more attractive. The writer is well aware that in many 

 schoolrooms, and particularly in some country schools, there is so 

 little that is attractive that the word "beauty" seems a foreign 



