14 



Domestic science 



The discussion up to this point has dealt mainly with the agricultural 

 part of the school. The reason is that the agricultural part is the most 

 important part in enrollment, in expenditures, and in every other way. 

 Domestic science teaching in this school does not have a special problem 

 to the extent that agriculture has. Its main work is to learn how to 

 connect the work in domestic science with the work in agriculture. Girls 

 take very little work in agriculture in the school, tho there are many 

 phases that are of especial interest in connection with domestic science. 



Domestic science teaching can be directly connected with the idea of 

 an agricultural school suited to Milwaukee County needs. Greenhouse 

 instruction, horticulture, and landscape gardening can be given. Gar- 

 dening, fruit growing, and dairying all lead to the home. The do- 

 mestic science department can work out methods of utilizing the products 

 of the farm in a way which will be of benefit to the pupils and to the 

 school. Wisconsin is one of the greatest canning states in the country. 

 Here is an industrial-agricultural opportunity for study. 



Students and cost 



Students come to the school to be taught. The instruction they re- 

 ceive is expected to train them to become agriculturalists, if not farmers. 

 They now receive instruction which for its cost should be of the best. 

 Specific defects have been pointed out elsewhere in this report. Here we 

 shall call attention to the fact that it is possible to teach a practical sub- 

 ject in an unpractical way. This can be overcome by more outside 

 work ; by giving each pupil something definite to do ; by giving him some 

 responsibility; by making him part of the whole scheme of the school 

 and showing him where he fits in this scheme. 



That the school is not increasing its attendance indicates that the 

 school is failing to impress the people with the idea that it can make it 

 worth while for them to send their children to it. That it is not decreas- 

 ing its too high cost indicates that it is not giving attention to the fact 

 that it is a public institution and must answer to the public for its con- 

 duct. A per capita cost of $442 is a cost which demands a reason or 

 a lowering. Even the highest class of teaching would not account for 

 it. This item alone will justify serious questioning by the board of ad- 

 ministration, the board of supervisors, the state, and the taxpayers. If 

 this cost cannot be brought down to a reasonable figure the school can- 

 not justify its existence. 



Shall the school be abolished? 



This question the report will not attempt to answer. It is a question 

 which the county authorities and the public must decide. It is the 



