No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 323 



studies but because logically they should come first although actually 

 they will come last. It will be a long time before any large per cent, 

 of our country schools will be centralized or consolidated. 



Of the vocational studies domestic science is perhaps the most 

 important because practically all girls will become housekeepers 

 sooner or later, most of them sooner, but this is out of my line. The 

 course of study should include domestic science for all the girls and 

 manual training and agriculture for all the boys and some agriculture 

 for the girls. The manual training should be agricultural in its ten- 

 dency and all exercises should lead to the making of some useful 

 object. The pupil should be able to see some utility in the work with- 

 out exercising too much of the '"substance of things hoped for, the 

 evidence of things not seen." In manual training it may sometimes 

 be necessary to restrain the pupil's ambition, to prevent him from 

 undertaking to make articles too difficult or complicated. Accuracy 

 is probably the most important element here. 



Agriculture may be introduced either into the elementary schools, 

 eighth grade and lower, or into the high school. It may be intro- 

 duced into the elementary schools as a separate subject, in connection 

 with nature study, as supplementary reading, or special phases may 

 be developed by oral teaching object lessons and bus}' work. While 

 some agricultural work in the elementary schools is desirable it is 

 of less importance than its introduction into the rural high school. 



The State of Pennsylvania puts tlie high school education within 

 the reach of every person within the State who is interested enough 

 to accept the provisions of this law and has the ability to go that far. 

 Agriculture as a separate branch is more of a high school subject 

 than an elementary subject. That is, it can be taught to better ad- 

 vantage in the high school than in the grades. There are many 

 phases that may be taught in the grades but these are better probably 

 taught somewhat after the manner of oral instruction object lessons, 

 etc., rather than as a distinct subject. In the high school too there 

 is more time for the introduction of vocational subjects, and teachers 

 are better prepared to teach them. Further the high school course 

 without agriculture tends to separate the pupil more and more from 

 home interests. This is not so much the case with elementary schools. 

 The object however is not primarily to keep boys on the farm but to 

 broaden the pupil and put him into sympathetic and intelligent re- 

 lations with his surroundings. If in doing this it makes farm life 

 more pleasant and more profitable and thus induces a larger number 

 of the bright boys to become farmers, it is well. 



There are three ways in which agriculture may be introduced into 

 the high school. The first is by the organization of distinct Agricul- 

 tural High Schools whose primary function is to make farmers or 

 in other words to teach agriculture as a specialty in an agricultural 

 environment. The second is the introduction of an agricultural 

 course into our existing high schools parallel with the other three 

 years' or four years' coursed now being given. In these courses 

 some agricultural subjects will be taught each term from the begin- 

 ning to the end of the course. The third method is the introduction 

 of the subject of agi'iculture as one of the sciences in the regular 

 high school course, coordinate with botany, physics, and other sciences 

 now taught. 



