THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 
BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN 
RECORD 
VoL. IX July, 1920 No. 3 
THE SCHOOL GARDEN AS A MEANS OF 
, EDUCATION* 
You are going out as teachers of a subject that is somewhat 
new as a part of the school program in this state. School 
gardens, however, are not new. In European countries they 
have been conducted as a means of education for nearly a cen- 
tury. Even in this country the work has become so general that 
the literature relative to it is abundant. ‘ 
This afternoon I desire to discuss the school garden as a 
means of education and in discussing this subject I shall endeavor 
to treat it broadly and in a true educational sense. en! 
Therefore, at the outset it will be well for us to have a clear 
understanding of the meaning of education. 
In China education is based on memory. There pupils are re- 
quired to commit all lessons to memory whether they be in num- 
‘ber, or history, or geography, or language, or literature. It is 
literally a “pouring in” process, The result is that the Chinese 
pupil becomes one-sided. He possesses a remarkable store of 
facts and figures but when it comes to using those facts and 
figures to initiate something worthwhile, to build a railroad for 
* Address delivered on December 13, 1919, at the exercises in connection 
with awarding certificates in Children’s Gardening at' the Brooklyn Botanic 
Garden. 
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