THE TRAINING OF FARMERS 



fertile school work cannot be pursued by 

 the pupil in silence and inaction. 



Agriculture in the schools 



I look to the school, when faced about, 

 to be an essential factor in the evolution of 

 the country life that we all hope for. All 

 the people hold this hope, or something like 

 it. We may differ as to the kind of school 

 that is needed. The common idea seems 

 to be to make an end of the matter by in- 

 troducing "agriculture" into the school. 

 Many persons object to this for the ele- 

 mentary school and some of them for the 

 high- school, on the ground that children 

 should not be made or influenced to special- 

 ize. I am not now asking that the public 

 elementary schools teach trades and pro- 

 fessions. George F. Warren has put the 

 matter tersely in his sentence, "While it is 

 not desirable to try to make farmers, it 

 does seem desirable to stop unmaking 

 them." 



Personally, I have very little care 

 whether a class in agriculture is introduced 

 in any school or not: if the people are 

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