124 COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE 



of their customary activities. As the home is 

 the center of our civilization, so the home sub- 

 jects should be the center of every school. 



The most necessary thing now to be done for 

 public school education in terms of country life 

 is to rouse all the people to the necessity of such 

 education, to coordinate the forces that are be- 

 ginning to operate, and to project the work 

 beyond the schools for youth into continuation 

 schools for adults. The schools must represent 

 and express the community in which they stand, 

 although, of course, they should not be confined 

 to the community. They should teach health 

 and sanitation, even if it is necessary to modify 

 the customary teaching of physiology. The teach- 

 ing should be visual, direct and applicable. Of 

 course, the whole tendency of the schools will be 

 ethical if they teach the vital subjects truthfully; 

 but particular care should be taken that they 

 stand for the morals of the pupils and of the 

 communities. 



We find a general demand for federal encour- 

 agement in educational propaganda, to be in 

 some way cooperative with the states. The 

 people realize that the incubus of ignorance 



