Education. 



419 



[May, 1910. 



ing field for the study of science in its 

 application to the work of men. It 

 trains the powers of observation as 

 almost nothing else does. It brings the 

 student into contact with real processes, 

 with men at work, with the man achiev- 

 ing things, with the great current of 

 the world's industrial life. Agriculture 

 in its broad sense has economic 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 life 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 gener- 

 ally 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 primarily 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-sup- 

 ported institutions established courses 

 for law, for medicine, for pharmacy, and 

 the like, and when the normal schools 

 for teachers were established. It was 

 forwarded with particulai regard to the 

 industries of life by the passage of the 

 famous Morrill Act of 1862, establishing 

 a college of agriculture and mechanic 

 arts in every State and territory in the 

 Union. The preparation of men for the 

 higher positions in all important voca- 

 tions 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 tech- 

 nical high schools, and commercial 

 departments or courses, with the defi- 

 nite object of preparing boys and girls 

 for the vocations of life, particularly 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 ? 1 go 



so far as to say that our democracy to a 

 great degree depends upon the proper 

 answer to this question. We can never 

 democratize education, we can never 

 democratize industry, we can never 

 thoroughly democratize our civilization 

 until we have made the public school 

 system the feeder for all the great 

 vocations of life. Agriculture plays 

 such an important part in our national 

 labour and life that no scheme of voca- 

 tional education could for a moment 

 ignore it. 



Let us pass to the final questions,— To 

 what extent and how cau elementary 

 aud secondary agriculture be made a 

 part of the school system ? 



First, with respect to elementary agri- 

 culture. Certainly elementary agricul- 

 ture should be taught in the rural 

 schools, both because the environment 

 of the child must play so large a part in 

 his education, and because the study of 

 agriculture in the country school will 

 lay a foundation for interest and skill in 

 the agricultural vocation, into which 

 so many of the country-bred children 

 will go. To a degree, elementary agri- 

 culture should also go into the city 

 schools because the city environment 

 yields so little to many phases of the 

 child's education, and because the 

 material of agriculture is in itself so 

 fresh, so interesting, so tonic. 



There are difficulties in the way of 

 introducing elementary agriculture into 

 the public schools we cannot deny, first, 

 because of the lack of qualified teachers, 

 and second, for lack of time. With res- 

 pect to the teachers it is safe to say that 

 teachers of elementary agriculture can 

 be trained. They are being trained. 

 But we should not blink the fact that 

 probably the ordinary teacher in the 

 country school who has to teach many 

 things will hardly prepare herself ade- 

 quately to teach elementary agriculture. 

 If this work is to be done at its best we 

 can expect that only special teachers 

 specifically trained can meet the need. 



With regard to the lack of time the 

 only solution is correlation of subject 

 matter. Agriculture may be taught 

 through arithmetic, or, better, arith- 

 metic through agriculture. If agricul- 

 ture is to be introduced into the lower 

 schools it must not come in simply as 

 an additional subject. It must be re- 

 lated to all other subjects iu the curri- 

 culum, but related in an organic and 

 definite way. 



Now with respect to secondary agri- 

 culture. Shall it be put into the high 

 school as a means of education alongside 

 the other subjects, or shajl it be only 



