STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS 51 



The character of the work in agriculture varies much in 

 different schools. But there is one feature of the instruction 

 that is common to all, viz., evidence of the newness of the 

 subject and of the fact that it is in an experimental stage. In 

 some schools the work in agriculture is only in name, much 

 better instruction being given in other schools in courses in 

 nature-study. 



The time given in the course of study varies from ten weeks 

 to two full years, the average being less than one year. One 

 interesting reaction following the demands for agricultural in- 

 struction is to be found in the readjustment in science courses, 

 especially in the biological sciences. The title agricultural botany 

 and agricultural zoology frequently occurs in courses of study. 

 One fails to find in some of these, however, justification for 

 the new titles, for the instruction remains much the same, 

 with emphasis on morphology. The attitude of certain teach- 

 ers of biology toward their subject is well illustrated by the 

 following extract of a letter received from a member of the 

 faculty of a large state normal school. "I obtained over one 

 dozen kinds of water animals one day from a pool when the 

 science (biology) teacher said he saw none in it. He was send- 

 ing to New York City for crayfish when a brook near the building 

 was full of them. The boys (in training school) had made nets 

 and would have been glad to have caught the animals for him." 

 Perhaps the influence of such a teacher was partly responsible 

 for the ignorance of a practice teacher (a senior) who stood in 

 a bed of marigolds and asked if there were any marigolds in the 

 garden. The introduction of agriculture will no doubt have 

 much to do in changing this attitude. 



It will in the end exert a profound influence upon the teaching of 

 general science. There is no manner of doubt that the masses of people 



are best benefited by the teaching of science in its applied form 



Agriculture is evidently to be the pioneer in this business of the adaptation 

 of science to the common affairs of life in the schools that are attended 

 by the masses, and if this is true its incidental service may be even greater 

 than its direct. In the meantime it is vastly significant that the schools 



