786 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 779 



that a portion of the increased support 

 thereby given the colleges of agriculture 

 might be used for "providing courses for 

 the special preparation of instructors for 

 teaching the elements of agriculture and 

 mechanic arts." 



"Whether experience will in the end shoM' 

 that the normal school, vrith agriculture, 

 home economics and mechanic arts added, 

 or the agricultural colleges, with sound 

 courses in education added, will best meet 

 this situation, or whether it may not in- 

 deed become expedient to employ both 

 methods, I will not at this time hazard a 

 guess. We are all, I take it, more inter- 

 ested in having this work done and done 

 well, than in the question of where or by 

 whom it shall be done. Certainly there are 

 many people now teaching who desire to 

 equip themselves to teach agriculture. 

 These naturally would be best served by 

 courses at the agricultural college. 



EXPERIMENTS IN TEACHING INDUSTRIAL 

 SUBJECTS 



To my mind, there can be no question 

 as to the propriety and profitableness of 

 establishing at the agricultural college, 

 where agriculture, home economics and 

 mechanic arts reach their highest develop- 

 ment, and where there is the greatest in- 

 terest and enthusiasm in these subjects, 

 systematic investigation of the methods of 

 teaching these subjects of a grade suitable 

 to the requirements of high schools and 

 rural schools. A sort of pedagogical ex- 

 periment station for the systematic study 

 of these and kindred problems is no less 

 important than are agricultural experi- 

 ment stations, to study questions relating 

 to corn and wheat growing and the raising 

 of live stock, and no less logical than engi- 

 neering experiments to study questions in 

 relation to bridges, highways, sanitation, 

 etc. 



KANSAS S OPPORTUNITY 



Much as we may deplore the lack of 

 suitably prepared teachers to introduce 

 these vocational subjects into the schools 

 of the rural districts, and much as we may 

 feel the lack of adequate knowledge and 

 experience along this line, the really fun- 

 damental difficulty in the way of a satis- 

 factory system of rural schools, primary 

 and secondary, is the lack of sufficient 

 funds. Wealth in rural communities is not 

 sufficiently concentrated to afford the rev- 

 enue necessary for this purpose. In many 

 portions of the country the returns from 

 the farm are so meager as to scarcely per- 

 mit the schools to be maintained on their 

 present low plane. The farmers of Kansas, 

 however, are prosperous — perhaps more 

 prosperous, on the average, than the farm- 

 ers of any other section of the world. They 

 therefore owe it to themselves, to their less 

 fortunate neighbors, and to their profes- 

 sion, to give of their means in sufficient 

 amount to develop the most efficient system 

 of rural education the world has known. 



PARMER OR PEASANT 



It is not primarily a matter of increased 

 financial return, but has involved in it the 

 future welfare of America's agriculture. 

 Further advancement must be based upon 

 the increased intelligence of the man who 

 is to till the soil, together with his better 

 understanding of the fundamental laws of 

 nature with which he has to deal. 



If the American farmer is to prove an 

 exception to the history of the world and 

 remain the independent, thinking, reading, 

 progressive individual that he has thus far 

 been instead of becoming a peasant, as he 

 has before in all history, it is necessary 

 that he be given the broadest possible train- 

 ing, and be educated most thoroughly in 

 the fundamental principles underlying his 

 profession. 



