40 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



farm from my Brother Oviatt's standpoint was not a larger bin, not a 

 more capacious barn, not larger flocks, not an enlargement of his bank 

 account, but with an emphasis which 1 cannot myself find words to put 

 on the subject he told the farmers that from his standpoint the greatest 

 thing on the farm, the greatest product of the farm, is the farm boy and 

 girl. I want to repeat it, as I have been doing in the institutes, the great- 

 est thing in the world is the twentieth century boy, the twentieth century 

 girl. Yet I am not, I must confess, so anxious about the girl as I am 

 about the boy, for the reason that the girl has demonstrated over and 

 over again her interest in education. Study th^ graduating lists from 

 our high schools and you will notice that the great majority of them will 

 be girls, about in the ratio of 16 to 1. Excuse me for bringing any poli- 

 tics into this, I did not mean to do that. 



What shall we do Avith the boy? My first answer is that we ought to 

 give him a liberal education. Now, we may ditfer in our estimate as to 

 what a liberal education is. Some will contend that a liberal education 

 consists in the teaching of the three Rs, and they will insist, as Supt. 

 Harvey suggested, that the little red schoolhouse with its teaching of 

 the three Rs has produced if not all the great men then a large propor- 

 tion of them. Others will insist that every boy and girl wall find all that 

 is necessary in what is taught in the first eight grades. Lately I have 

 seen an article in one of our important papers to the effect that the high 

 school should be done away with. I believe that does not reflect the 

 sentiment of any large number of the more intelligent citizens of our 

 State. The high school has had to fight its way into our system of edu- 

 cation, the people being apparently willing always, from the early times, 

 to supply primary education, and always ready to make provision for 

 higher education ; but if you study the history of education you will find 

 that the high school has been obliged at all times to demonstrate its right 

 to exist. It has made its way and proven its right to exist in the cities, 

 but one link is still wanting and that is the establishment of a secondary 

 school, the high school in the country, so that its advantages will apply 

 to every boy and girl in Michigan. I want it to be remembered concern- 

 ing the two years of my administration that I have insisted over and 

 over again that every boy and girl in Michigan should have a good high 

 school education. 1 think that is the least we can give to our boys and 

 girls. 



Just as it has been argued here tonight, times have changed, the 

 demands upon men and women in the generation of w^hich the boys and 

 girls will form a part Avill be greater than those that have come upon 

 you and me. If these boys and girls are not to be handicapped in the 

 race for life, if they are not to fall back and be marked down as failures 

 in the business, social and political world, they must have the benefits 

 of a high school education. 



I come to discuss this high school education. I believe that is the 

 sentiment of the State, that the people of the State believe that every boy 

 and girl should have a high school education, and I take two or three 

 simple illustrations to prove that this is true. In the first place 17,000 

 and over of our farmers' boys and girls were sent out last year from 

 their country homes to city schools. There is a figure which is a demon- 

 stration in itself, proving that the farmers do appreciate the benefits of 

 a high school education. That is, to be sure, only about 5i/2 per cent of 



