Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-02-27
TIE FARMERS, HIGH SCHOOL.

The following extract from the ''Memorial
of the Committee of the Board of Trustees"
will give the reader clear understanding of
the objects. &C., of the Farmers High School
of Pennsylvania =
The objects Of the Farmers High School OF
Pennsylvania are so important, and seem to
commend themselves so directly TO public IA
vor, that the trustees come to the Legislature
with perfect CONFIDENCE that the peoples rep
resentatiyes will affsrd the aid required to
place the institution actual operation. 9th
er and younger &Stass have made appropria-
tions to similar objects. Why should Penn
syTvania, with her vast agricultural resources,
developed and unGeveloped, remain inactive
This institution proposes by uniting the ac-
QUESTION of knowledge with daily toll, to i'm
part interest to the one, and add dignity to the
other. 1t proposes to remedy an evil which
exists at every literary institution in the COM
mouwealth. That evil is the low zrepute in
which manual labor is held by the student
We have had, it Is true, farms connected with
some of our colleges, upon which those of the
students who chose might lessen the expenses
of acquiring their education by manual labor.
Those who wrought upon the farm were, by
those who did not labor, esteemed poor; and
like the poor mans children, educated at pub
lie expense under the act of April 4, 1909, |
they became distinct class, cut off from the
society of those who, by the very distinction
thus created, were led TO believe their parents !
rich. 1t is thus that manual labor is degra- |
ding in the eyes of the youth Of our colleges |
to such an extent that, in nine instances out Of
ten, they are graduated with an utter distaste |
and adherence for the pursuits and occupa- |
tions of their fathers, whether in the field or /
the shop. The association of manual labor I
with slavery, which is but an extension of this |
same prejudice, rests like an incubus upon the |
sunny lands and fertile fields Of the South
There thousands of families endure poverty
and want rather than degrade themselves by /
manual labor. Our present common school /
laws placing the children of the poor and tho |
rich upon one common platform, it is esteem
ed honorable in all to acquire knowledge at |
the public expense.
The Farmers High School proposes to re-
quire such amount of manual labor as shall be
found beneficial and proper, of every student,
as one of the conditions of his admission to,
and of his continuance in the institution. The
ambition of students, thus placed upon a por-
feet equality, with standard but adyagce21 I
ment in learning, and skill in labor, o'eleSate
or degrade them, will soon bring into active
exercise energies of mind and of body, which,
but for this incentive to industry, might have |.
lain dormant
The profits arising from the labor of the stu
dents are to go into the treasury of the insti-
tuition, to lessen the expenses of their educa-
tion. 1t has been estimated that after the in
stitution shall have been put in operation, with
suitable buildings four hundred acres of such
from debt the necessary expenses of the stu
dent, including boarding, washing and tuition,
willnot exceed seventy-fve dollars per ann1fa.
1t is not proposed to teach the dead langua-
ges. Ifdeemed by any essential toa good ed
ucation, they should be acquired prior to the
age at which pupils can be admitted into the
institution.
With this exception it is proposed to afford |
the student, in four years. course, as COM
plete and thorough an educati on as can be ac-
quired at our best literary institutions ed
ucation which, though not less scientific, shall |
atoms and illustrations in the field and the |
shop.
One great and leading object of the institu-
tion is to lessen, by manual labor, the expenses
so as to bring the acquisition of scientific ed