Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1883-03-10
Education of Farmers Children.
Isaac L. Case, DurhamvilIe, Tenn.

Nv OHHOA hteo 'OOh OllOlOu bllS
youth who are to become farmers, the
wealth producers of the country, for
special training in their profession. The
knowledge and discipline they receive
in the school is of character that
draws the mind of the student away
from agricultural pursuits. The studies
he must pursue give such direction to
his thoughts and feelings, that when
he leaves school he has no sympathy
for the business he must follow for a
living. The whole course of his edu.
cational training has been directed to
the professions, such as to make teach
ers, lawyers, doctors, merchants, poll
ticians, newspaper men, book-keepers,
clerks, brokers, and all other classes
who live by their wits.
If we examine the school books in
common use we find that, beyond those
which belong to the primary branches,
in which all children should be thor
oughly drilled, not one of them gives
the boy that is to make farmer any
idea that will be Of practical use in his
calling.
In his arithmetic the examples apply
almost entirely to mercantile life. The
boy that is preparing to become mer-
chants clerk finds examples of endless
variety upon which he can exercise his
Judgment and ingenuity in solving, that
when he leaves school to begin in his
chosen calling he has had a special drill
for that business.
When the farmers boy comes to
make his calculations he must invent
rules for himself. His years of drill
IN arithmetic has not taught him any
sure or easy method of calculating the
area Of his fields, how to measure his
crib of corn, or his grain bins, of cir
cling his hills to keep them from wash
ing, of the number of rails it will take
to build his fences, the number of
shingles it will take TO cover the roofs
of his houses and barns. Not a single
rule or item in the arithmetic he has
been compelled to study gives him any
information. He must wander through
a wilderness of fractions, of compound
numbers, memorizing tables for which
he will have no use so long as be lives,
of buying and selling bonds, exchange,
custom-house duties, simply because
one or two of his classmates expect
some time to enter the mercantile pro-
fession.
In the reading books the thoughts,
desires, and ambition of the boy that is
to mak re the professional man are aroused
by reading selections from the classics
and the master pieces of oratory. But
they tell the boy that is to be farmer
nothing of the soil he is to cultivate,
the plants he is to grow, the stock he
is to feed, the tools he is to use. All
of these subjects and many others of a
like nature are Of surprising interest
and Importance, yet of these things the
boy that is to become farmer learns
not one fact.
Successful farming cannot be con-
Quoted to day as it was twenty five
years ago. 1t is fast becoming an ex-
perimental science, the foundations of
which can be taught in the schools as
well as any of the physical sciences. 1t
will not be nearly as difficult as many
of the studies now pursued. The
sciences of geography, philosophy,
chemistry, physiology and botany are
all founded upon facts obtained by ex
periments. Facts lie at the foundation
of every science.
Facts upon which the principles and
laws that govern prosperity and success
in farming may be learned in the school
with far greater ease and facility than
knowledge can be obtained in the studies
now pursued, and the results will be
far more beneficial.
The time now occupied with branches
and minutie, that will be of no posi-
BILE benefit to the child of the farmer
is much greater than it should be. II
these studies we're curtailed of all theil
useless details. and brought within
proper limits, time would be afforded
for the study Of the elements of all the
branches Of the natural sciences, {
knowledge of which is essential to tn,
intelligent pursuit of agriculture.
1t is no more difficult to obtain
knowledge of the physical sciences, OF