AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IX THE SCHOOLS. 115 



and social aspects of large meaning. The importance of the 

 agricultural industry, the dependence of other industries upon it, 

 the development of population, the significance of rural Ufe in our 

 American civilization, — all these things give breadth of view and 

 sanity of judgment. The mental value of the manual art of agri- 

 culture, particularly for boys and girls who do not live upon the 

 farm, is generally recognized by the movement for school gardens, 

 I might go on with other illustrations of the educational value of 

 agriculture. I think there is no longer any doubt in the minds of 

 educators about this. 



The other question which has been raised is whether the school 

 system shall be utilized for vocational education. We cannot 

 dwell long upon this point, and I do not think we need to. It is 

 true that at the beginning the public school was not designed pri- 

 marily to prepare for one's life work; it was rather designed to 

 give each child the tools which he could use in any occupation. 

 Gradually, however, there has crept in a new use for the public 

 school system. This movement began when state-supported in- 

 stitutions established courses for law, for medicine, for pharmacy, 

 and the like, and when the normal schools for teachers were estab- 

 lished. It was forwarded Avith particular regard to the industries 

 of life by the passage of the famous Morrill Act of 1862, establishing 

 a colleo;e of agriculture and mechanic arts in everv state and terri- 

 tory in the Union. The preparation of men for the higher positions 

 in all important vocations of life, including the industries, is now 

 a recognized part of the public system of education. But the 

 movement has gone further than that, and in many states there 

 have been established technical high schools, and commercial 

 departments or courses, with the definite intention of preparing 

 boys and girls for the vocations of life, particularly for the vocations 

 not represented by the professions. 



The question now comes up — Shall this movement be extended ? 

 Why not ? Shall the public school system serve all the people, or 

 shall it continue to serve merely that fraction of our youth who go 

 on into the colleges and become generals or captains of industry ? 

 I go so far as to say that our democracy to a great degree depends 

 upon the proper answer to this question. We can never democ- 

 ratize education, we can never democratize industry, we can 



