The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1884-05-01
Industrial Education,

anti-industrial. It's whole tendency
is to inculcate indirectly if not posi-
lively, that education is intended tC
lift the laboring classes above the
necessity Of manual toll. The teach.
ers and supporters do not make this
the main object nor do they intend
that this shall be the result. And
yet the compensations and induce
ments held out are mainly to this
end. A large portion of the com
munity are honest in the opinion
that a man does not need an educa-
tioh to be a farmer. Hence it is a
low and degrading occupation unfit
for man of education and refine
ment. And the boys who go to and
are educated at classical schools
feel that they have a higher order
of intelligence than the student
who obtains a scientific and practi-
cal education. Could the world,
however, see and fully realize the
struggles, defeats and discourage
ments which young men haye to
undergo and suffer when they 90
out into the world from the ciassi-
cal college to enter the arena of life,
they would have a different estimate
of the two courses of study. The
most disconsolate and degrading
life is that of an ambitious young
man starting out in any of the
learned professions, struggling in
doubt and neglect for half a life
time before they attain a remunera-
tive practice.
There is an objection raised
against agricultural colleges, that
those who are educated there sell
dom return to the farm. 1t is true
this has been the case to a marked
degree. But what is the reason?
When a young man obtains a good
practical education, in which the
whole man is improved and polish
ed, the world has so many demands
for him he is almost compelled to
accept liberal offers to enter the
many fields of industry whose doors
have been standing open for his
coming.
An agricultural college is not q
special school to convert students
into farmers, as the Touring mill
turns wheat into -four. It is a col
lege having four years as q course
of study, in which it is intended for
the student to obtain a broad and
liberal idea of the sciences, with a
thorough knowledge of their practi
cal application to the business of
life. It is no wonder that a young
man thus educated and trained
should, when leaving college, be in
duced to accept positions of profit
and honor. It cannot be helped,
and it will continue to be the case,
until the demands for practical men
are supplied by some other means
not now in operation. So incompat
ible and antagonistic is their influ-
ence on the students where agri-
cultural and mechanical colleges
have been associated and combined
in one institution with classical
schools, that the result has invaria-
bly, been a. failure of the industrial
department. As we said in the
commencement of this article, all of
the spirit and tendency of schools
are against the industrial. Where
the students are permitted to decide
what course of study-they will pur
sue, the frow1 which is cast upon
manual labor by the advanced clas-
sical scholars in the institution is
more withering than the ordinary
young student can bear. Industry
is the noblest lesson a boy or girl
can receive. Without industry life
is failure, and without a true appre-
citation of the dignity ofhonest toll,
no education is complete, and true
manhood and womanhood remains,
to limited degree, undeveloped.
How sadly is the garden neglect
ed by large class of farmers. Too
often the garden attached to the
farmhouse Is the most unsightly
and unsatisfactory piece of ground
about the farm. The garden is too
aften looked upon as OF trifing i'm
portance, to be looked after at odd
times, when the larger crops are all
in. If few hills of beans, a short
and straggling:row of peas,a few cab
bages and tomatoes,a bed of onions,
lettuce and beets are carelessly
raked in when opportunity offers,
generally late in the season, it is
about all that is expected. Every
thing goes unweeded until they are
choked out of existence. 1t is
strange, but true, that one must
come within the city's dust and din,
miles away from the open country,
to find the earliest and freshest veg
etables. There is no reason why
the farmers table should not be
supplied with the best things that
our soil and climate can produce
throughout the season.-Spirit of
the farm.
VIII G. Nicholas, the witty man
aging editor of the Washington Ma