78 THE NATURE-STUDY IDEA 



be and can be done. Other lines of effort must be 

 added. In many places similar work is in progress. 

 The great agricultural States of the middle West 

 promise to become leaders. The efficiency of the 

 work will depend in large measure on its adapt- 

 ability to the particular conditions and people to 

 be served. 



The ideals of nature-study are everywhere the 

 same ; but the methods and means are capable 

 of endless modification. There is always danger 

 that too much emphasis will be placed on mere 

 " learning " on the part of the child or the pupil. 

 The real value of the extension work with the 

 young lies in interesting, enthusing, inspiring 

 them. Mere information, however valuable, will 

 not cause a person to be a farmer, nor incline him 

 to live in the country. Of course the work must 

 be practical that is, it must be truthful, direct, 

 forceful, and must put the child into intimate 

 contact with its own life. It must aim to 

 give him power and enterprise rather than assorted 

 facts although the facts may be so handled that 

 they become the means and not the end. I fear 

 that some good persons are too insistent on getting 

 " agriculture " into the schools. There is no gain 

 in getting the word into the curriculum unless 

 the subject is really taught with optimism and 

 with purpose. 



It is a common desire to bring the rural schools 

 into intimate relations with the life of the 

 community merely by employing teachers having 

 knowledge of farm life. This may be of little 





