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A thorough, well organized educational program for children, 
as well as for adults, had never been undertaken by a botanic 
garden when this institution was organized. But, as a recent 
writer has stated, “ The world holds no more tyrannous and 
bumptious arrogance than that of interest for adults only.” | Mu- 
seums were beginning to recognize this at the beginning of the 
present century, and children’s work gradually became an impor- 
tant part of the educational program of all the leading museums. 
This work found its highest development in the Children’s Mu- 
seum of Brooklyn (another Department of the Brooklyn Institute 
of Arts and Sciences), a pioneer in this line and the model of 
several children’s museums in other cities. No opportunity for 
voluntary education for children ever, met a more spontaneous 
or enthusiastic response ; no money expended for education ever 
yielded larger returns. 
Community Service 
dut educational work with children was not confined by us to 
cooperation with the schools. Sop ular courses of instruction were 
organized in the plantations, children’s greenhouses, conservatories, 
children’s gardens, classrooms, and laboratories, with a total at- 
tendance that soon reached the significant figure of approximately 
50,000 a year—practically the same as the attendance at work of- 
fered in cooperation with the schools. 
Adult Education 
Increasing attention has been given during the past few years 
to the subject of adult education. By adult education is meant 
educational opportunities for persons past the average age of 
graduation from high school, and who can give only a small frac- 
tion of their time to continuing their schooling. Plans are being 
perfected for a survey of the opportunities in this line now avail- 
able in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has, from the 
beginning, offered opportunities to adults. In fact, the plantations, 
conservatories, library, herbarium, and bureau of information all 
minister to this need, and have been developed with this in view. 
The response has more than justified the plans to meet it. 
