August, 1910.] 



137 



Agricultural Education. 



"leisure, indolence, idleness," butthrough 

 the refining influence of labour, labour 

 which gives the boy a thrill as he looks 

 upon his work, sees that it is well done, 

 and realises that he has done it. To realise 

 such an ideal in education, Dr. Robertson 

 believes that we must shift the emphasis 

 from "three RV'from letters to train- 

 ing for life in the locality. 



The problem of relating the country 

 schools more closely to the life and needs 

 of the people was discussed more at 

 length in the department of rural and 

 agricultural education, especially in a 

 round-table conference which was attend- 

 ed by Dr. Robertson and other leading 

 educators who have identified them- 

 selves with rural school interests. This 



{>roblem, as stated by D. J. Crosby, 

 eader of this conference, involves both a 

 fuller scheme of education and a new 

 kind of education adapted to the real 

 needs of the farming people. 



''Such a scheme of public education," 

 in his opinion, " calls for larger school 

 units, to the end that the per capita cost 

 of education may not be unduly increased 

 when we provide better material equip- 

 ment, better trained and better paid 

 teachers, and higher grades of instruc- 

 tion within daily reach of the homes of 

 air rural children. It calls for instruc- 

 tion in the principles and practice 

 of agriculture and home economics in 

 the rural public schools, and for the 

 establishment of a limited number of 

 new special schools of agricuiture and 

 home economics. It demands a new 

 point of view in teaching the sub- 

 jects now generally included in the 

 public school curriculum, to the end 

 that non-essentials shall be eliminated 

 and greater concreteness and effective- 

 ness shall be acquired through problems 

 and illustrations drawn from the farm, 

 the home, and the common things in the 

 natural environment of the children. 

 And, finally, it must have the united 

 support of National, State, and county 

 educational agencies, the bureaus and 

 departments of education, the depart- 

 ments of agriculture, the State univer- 

 sities and colleges of agriculture, the 

 State normal schools and the various 

 associations of farmers and teachers, to 

 study the pedagogical and practical 

 problems involved in the direction of 

 country life education. That the pro- 

 blems are vast and complex no one will 

 deny, that they are worth the best 

 efforts of our most profound students of 

 education is equally beyond question of 

 doubt." 



It was along these lines mainly that 

 the discussions proceeded both in the 

 conference and in the other two sessions 

 18 



held by the department of rural and 

 agricultural education, and there was 

 practical agreement between the details 

 of the different papers and discussions 

 and the essential factors of the summa- 

 rised statement made by the leader of 

 the conference. 



Dr. S. A. Knapp, of this Department, 

 gave a splendid discussion of the rural 

 education problem as it appeared to him 

 in the South, and dwelt especially upon 

 the effectiveness of boys' clubs and the 

 importance of teaching the young the 

 value and importance of the garden, the 

 poultry flock, and the cow, and how to 

 care for them and realise the most from 

 them. Valuable suggestions concerning 

 the making of a high school course in 

 agriculture, and the correlation of agri- 

 culture with other high school science, 

 were made by Josiah Main of the Uni- 

 versity of Tennessee, and suggestions 

 for the elementary course by R. O. John- 

 son of the State Normal School at 

 Chico, Cal. There were also interesting 

 papers on awakening and maintaining 

 interest in agriculture, the present status 

 of agricultural education in the public 

 schools and National aid in the prepar- 

 ation of teachers of agriculture for the 

 public schools. 



Another matter which was discussed 

 pro and con at this Convention related 

 to the establishment of special agricul- 

 tural schools, but the different papers 

 were presented at such widely different 

 times and places as to render it difficult 

 to get at the concensus of opinion. The 

 matter came up first in the department 

 of manual traiuing where the question 

 of establishing separate trade schools 

 was under discussion, and President 

 Kerr, of the Oregon Agricultural Col- 

 lege, argued against separate trade 

 schools for agriculture. Later, in the 

 department of secondary education, 

 Dean Davenport, of the University of 

 Illinois, read a paper in which he pre- 

 sented arguments against the establish- 

 ment of special agricultural high schools, 

 on the ground that instruction in agri- 

 culture should be given in the public 

 high schools, that courses in special 

 schools must of necessity be narrow, 

 and that the tendency of such schools 

 would be to "peasantize" the farmers 

 as agricultural schools had done in 

 Germany. 



There was no opportunity at that time 

 for the discussion of Dean Davenport's 

 paper, but on che following day, in the 

 department of rural and agricultural 

 education, some of his leading arguments 

 were discussed by those who believe in 

 the establishment of agricultural high 



