31 G EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



J. L. Snyder, of Michigan, spoke of the institute work in Michigan, 

 and also of the educational work which is being undertaken on the 

 Chautauqua plan. The Superintendent of Public Instruction has been 

 authorized by the State legislature to prepare an agricultural course 

 for the district schools, and the preparation of bulletins for use in con- 

 nection with these courses has been undertaken. 



J. II. Canfield, of Ohio, referred to the women's clubs as likely to 

 exert an increasingly important educational influence. He pointed out 

 the danger of attempting too much and thus "dissipating our energies 

 and neglecting the specific work given us to do." 



The first speaker on the second topic, "Preparatory work in col- 

 leges," was K. H. Jesse, of Missouri. He questioned both the legality 

 and propriety of preparatory courses in the agricultural colleges. These 

 should be colleges in fact as well as in name, and the preparatory studies 

 should be provided for in the lower schools. He thought that courses 

 of agriculture, horticulture, and mechanic arts should be introduced in 

 the district schools. He referred to the report of the committee of 12 

 of the National Educational Association on rural schools, which has 

 "declared in favor of the building up of a course of study for the rural 

 schools around the farm as a center of interest." To aid this movement 

 the University of Missouri has undertaken a series of summer courses 

 for the instruction of teachers in manual training, drawing, horticulture, 

 and entomology. 



In a paper on the same subject by E. W. Hilgard, of California, the 

 belief was expressed that the drift of development of the colleges in the 

 older States was toward the view that these colleges were not designed 

 to educate the mass of farmers' sons, but chiefly to train agricultural 

 experts and leaders of progress, and that the courses should be planned 

 accordingly. 



A. Ellis, of Colorado, thought it impossible to devise a plan univer- 

 sally applicable. He saw no legal obstacle to the introduction of pre- 

 paratory courses in the colleges, and thought such courses under present 

 conditions in many States were an absolute necessity. Public schools 

 as at present conducted do not properly prepare students for the agri- 

 cultural colleges. As soon as they do accomplish this, preparatory 

 courses in the colleges may very properly be dispensed with. 



J. H. Connell, of Texas, stated that in his experience the public 

 schools educated away from the industrial lines. He thought that the 

 desired results could be obtained only by instruction of teachers in 

 industrial lines by means of summer normal schools at the agricultural 

 colleges. 



W. M. Hays, of Minnesota, presented a paper on this subject, in 

 which he discussed the industrial training in secondary schools in 

 North Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota, laying especial emphasis on the 

 fact that "every agricultural college has some things peculiarly its own 

 to consider in bridging over the gap between the common school and 



