December, 1909.] 



541 



Miscellaneous. 



The following table is compiled from 

 the United States Census for 1900, and 

 the Census of the Philippine Islands 

 for 1903 :- 



The total number of persons engaged 

 in gainful occupations in the United 

 States is placed at 29,286,000 or 36'3 per 

 cent., in the Philippine Islands 3,037,880, 

 or 43*5 per cent., classified as follows : — 



United State, ^Pgine 



No. Per ct. (per ct.) 



Agriculturalpursuits... 10,438,000 35'7 41 "3 



Manufacturing and me- 

 chanical pursuits ... 7,113,000 24"4 3P6 



Domestic and personal 



service 5,691,000 19-2 18-87 



Trade and transpor- 

 tation ... ... 4,778,000 16-4 7-5 



Professional service ... 1/264,000 4'3 0-8 



It has been recognized for some years 

 past that the course of study for the 

 common schools is made up solely for 

 the purpose of preparing the children 

 in the schools for advanced training in 

 high schools, academies, and colleges. 

 Our school-books have been prepared on 

 the science basis and the literary basis, 

 and with scientific or academic objects 

 in view, to such an extent that we have 

 had science readers and stepping stones 

 to literature as the substance of reading 

 matter for the boys and girls in the 

 country schools for more than a decade. 

 While the courses of study for practi- 

 cally all of our schools in the United 

 States and the Philippine Islands have 

 been made upon the basis for prepar- 

 ing for advanced scientific, literary, or 

 classical education, it is a recognized fact 

 that not exceeding 10 per cent, of the 

 boys and girls are ever able to take 

 advantage of such advanced training 

 or education, and the remaining 90 per 

 cent, who must follow agricultural, 

 manufacturing, and mechanical pursuits, 

 trade and transportation, domestic or 

 personal service, receive no consider- 

 ation whatever in the course of study 

 or the woik of the common schools. 

 In short, the whole purpose and plan 

 of our educational system is solely for 

 the benefit of the well-to-do 10 per 

 cent, of the population who may enjoy 

 the opportunity of advanced training 

 in high schools, academies, colleges, and 

 possibly universities. 



It would seem that the teachers of our 

 common schools, more particularly the 

 country schools, should be prepared to 

 instruct the boys and girls iu those 

 subjects and along those lines of learning 

 which they need for their future life 

 work, inscead of training them along 

 literary, scientific, or classical lines, as is 



the case at present both here and iu the 

 United States, 



It would seem that, in the country 

 schools at least, the farmers ' daughters 

 should be taught — without books— some- 

 thing of home economy, of the value 

 of different foods and the best methods 

 of preparing them, the elements of sew- 

 ing, in short a better knowledge of 

 domestic science and art than they 

 obtain at home. It would seem that in 

 the country school the teacher should 

 be qualified to train — without books— 

 the boys and girls of the country in the 

 fundamentals of such subjects as the 

 following :— 



(1) The nature and value of different 

 soils. 



(2) The selection of seed. 



(3) Methods of seed testing. 



(4) The planting of trees. 



(5) The practice and principles of 

 pruning. 



(6) The practice and principles of 

 grafting. 



(7) How to start home fruit gardens, 



(8) The treatment of the common 

 plants, fruits, and grains for the pre- 

 vention of common diseases. 



(9) The nature of common animal 

 diseases and how to treat them. 



(10) The elements of drainage. 



(11) The elemeuts of irrigation. 



(12) The making of plans for school 

 gardens. 



(13) Plans tor the improvement and 

 beautifying of home and school grounds. 

 A better knowledge of these tilings by 

 the boys and girls of the country means 

 a higher standard of living and life for 

 the country and the nation, and a higher 

 working efficiency of the individual 

 citizen. 



Along this line many popular books 

 have been produced in the United States, 

 among the foremost are "Among Coun- 

 try Schools " by O. J. Kern, several 

 books by Prof. L. H. Bailey, of the 

 Agricultural College for Cornell Univer- 

 sity ; the reports of the United States 

 Commissioner of Education and the 

 National Educational Association. These 

 reports contain accounts of the school 

 garden movement and the move for agri- 

 cultural education in country schools in 

 Germany, Prussia, France, Holland, 

 Sweden, and Russia. 



School Movements. 

 While the work of our country schools 

 has been solely for those who could 

 afford to go to high schools, colleges, 

 and universities, those who choose the 



