142 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



their children to read the Scriptures, that they might not get wrong ideas 

 of their religious duty. Even after this idea was outgrown, our schools 

 for generations did little more than to teach the use of the mere tools of 

 knowledge; to read, to write and to cipher, were the great gains of the 

 schoolroom. JEven geography and grammar were rather late arrivals. 

 Then came the idea that the school should train children for citizenship, 

 and it was argued that the chief reason why schools should be supported 

 at public expense was in order that good citizens should be trained there. 

 History and civil government were put into the course in obedience to 

 this theory. Another step was taken when physiology was added to the 

 course, because it was an acknowledgment that the schools should do 

 something to train youth in the individual art of living. Still another 

 step was taken when manual training and domestic science were brought 

 into our city schools, because these studies emphasize the fact that the 

 schools must do something to train workers. And finally we have at 

 present the idea gaining a strong foothold that the schools must train the 

 child to fill its place in the world of men; to see all the relations of life; 

 to be fitted to live in human society. This idea really embraces all the 

 other ideas. It implies that the schools shall not only teach each indi- 

 vidual the elements of knowledge, that they shall train for citizenship, 

 that they shall train men in the art of living, that they shall aid in pre- 

 paring for an occupation, but that they shall do all of these things; and 

 do them not merely for the good of the individual, but for the good of 

 society as a whole. 



And not only is there a feeling that the pupil in school can be brought 

 into closer touch with the life of the community, but that the school as 

 an institution can be made more useful to the community as a whole. 

 This double thought has been expressed in the phrase, "Make the school a 

 social center." Of course, the word social in this sense does not mean 

 that the school shall be made merely a place for carrying on the social 

 amenities of life. The word "social" means that the school shall be a 

 center for the community life, that here the community as a whole shall 

 find leadership in organizing intellectual enter j)rises that promise to 

 make the community better and richer. 



The purpose of this paper is not to deal in the theory of the subject, 

 not to argue particularly for this view of the function of tlio school, but^ 

 rather to try to show some methods by which the rural school and the 

 farm community can be brought into closer relations. In this way I hope 

 to prove that there is a better chance for cooperation between the rural 

 school and the farm community than we have been accustomed to believe, 

 and that this closer relation is worth striving for. I shall suggest five 

 methods by which the rural school can become a social center. Some of 

 these have already been tried in rural communities; some of them have 

 been tried in cities, and some of them, so far as I am aware, have not been 

 tried at all. 



1. The first means of making the rural school a social center is through 

 the course of study. It is here that the introduction of nature study into 

 our rural schools would be especially helpful. This nature study when 

 properly followed approves itself both to educators and to farmers. To 

 educators, because it means the use of environment in education. To 

 farmers, because it means a better preparation for the business and life 

 of the farm. I think it is a pedagogical principle recognized by every 

 modern teacher that in education it is necessary to consider the environ- 



