CHAPTER II 

 THE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL 



At present there is a gap between our primary schools in country 

 and city and the industrial collegiate courses which must be closed, 

 and if necessary the nation must help the state to close it. Too often 

 our present schools tend to put altogether too great a premium upon 

 mere literary education, and therefore to train away from the farm 

 and shop. — Theodore Roosevelt. 



Importance of Agricultural Instruction in the High 



School 



Several considerations point to the importance of agricultural 

 instruction in high schools. One is the large dependence of the 

 rural elementary schools upon the local high schools for their 

 supply of teachers. The officers of 132 high schools reporting 

 on this point indicate an approximate estimate of 1,722 pupils, 

 out of the total enrollment of 11,977, who later teach in the 

 country schools. Returns from 160 high schools show that 

 4,071 pupils, out of the total enrollment of 15,243, are from 

 farm homes. These schools minister to a constituency of nearly 

 half a million people. This has a bearing on the problem to 

 whatever extent we believe these schools should relate their 

 work closely to the interests of the community. 



Attention has been called by Professor Thorndike'^ to the 

 fact that " the most typical, in the sense of the most frequent, 

 secondary school in the United States is a school taught by 

 one teacher. The secondary schools in the country with only 

 one teacher outnumber by a considerable figure all those with 

 five or more teachers. Those with only one or two teachers 

 outnumber by a considerable figure all the rest. Those with 

 one, two, or three teachers are ten times as frequent as those 



^Educational Review, Vol. 33, March, 1907, pp. 245-255. 



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