No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 137 



distribution av'c learn that the commissioners unite unani- 

 mously in the following among other recommendations : — 



1. That the principles and practice of the kindergarten be 

 taught in the normal schools. 



2. That the principles and practice of manual training, so far 

 as applicable in the primary and grammar schools, be taught in 

 the normal schools. 



3. That the principles and practice of domestic science be 

 taught in the normal schools. 



4. That high schools in which a course in the mechanic arts, 

 approved by the Board of Education, shall be taught to boys, be 

 established and maintained iu all cities having a population of 

 20,000 or more. 



5. That high schools in which a course of domestic science, in- 

 cluding sewing and cooking, approved by the Board of Education, 

 be established and maintained in all cities having a population of 

 20,000 or more. 



6. That the Board of Education be by law required to appoint 

 an agent whose special duty shall be to advise and aid in the in- 

 troduction of manual training and industrial education into the 

 public schools, and to visit and report upon all schools in which 

 such training and education are carried on. 



If these recommendations, and others made by the com- 

 mission, 1)0 adopted and made law by the Legislature, it 

 will be seen that a radical revolution in our })resent school 

 system must be the result. 



Whatever changes or innovations in methods of teaching 

 or in courses of study be made, the public school must con- 

 tinue to be the only school for a large part of those who be- 

 long to the agricultural and other industrial classes. The 

 fact that it is free from tuition charges and that pupils, 

 while attending it, can live at their own homes and give as- 

 sistance to those who need their help, will make it, in the 

 future as in the past, the only available place for their edu- 

 cation. 



In dwelling thus upon the public school I do not intend 

 by any means to lose sight of other very important educa- 

 tional influences. We must all agree, I think, that the 

 newspaper is a very powerful agent in educating our young 

 people. It is becoming more and more one of the great 



