ii2 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



that among four-fifths of our farming people, the ma- 

 jority of the boys and girls do not even finish the eighth 

 grade. 



The New Day demands radical thinking and decisive 

 action on the part of the farmers as well as on the part 

 of educators, concerning the rural school system. 

 Farmers doubtless will object to raising the school age 

 to 1 6, because they feel that they need the work of the 

 children on the farm. But there are devices that will 

 help to modify the immediate economic disadvantages 

 of lengthened schooling. Among these devices are the 

 part-time school and continuation schools. The exten- 

 sion of the present plan of winter short courses in agri- 

 culture offered by our agricultural schools and colleges 

 ought to meet the situation. If we could have a system 

 by which in practically every community in America 

 there were winter schools of four months for farm boys 

 and girls of the age of 1 6 to 1 8 (assuming the school 

 age will be raised to 16; otherwise from 14 to 18) we 

 would at once take a long step in advance. These 

 schools should be agricultural in character but not con- 

 fined to agriculture. The farmer and his wife in a 

 rural democracy need all the agriculture and home mak- 

 ing education that they can get, likewise need all the 

 possible stimulation to closer thinking about the big 

 problems of work and life. 



The so-called " practical " farmer, the narrowly vo- 

 cational education advocate, and the conservative " lib- 

 eral " educator are together responsible for one of the 

 most serious failures of our rural school system the 

 neglect of education of our youth in the economic and 

 social questions of the time. The New Day will bring 

 these questions to the very front. Indeed, they are the 

 main questions of the New Day. How shall the hu- 



