The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1894-03-29
INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION IN OUR
COUNTRY SCHOOLS,


students of the school of agriculture Of
the Ohio State university, which holds
meetings regularly and discusses sub
jects pertinent to their line of study.
The following is the summary OF an ad-
dress delivered before this associations:
In the Whoa. IIaw, Gee. Buck pc
riod of our Oldest educational history,
when the forests covered the surface OF
the state. and tie people lived in log
houses built with their own hands, and
built in the same man
ner. with puncheon desks arranged
around three sides of the room, fire
place on the fourth side, the masters
desk in the middle, having in his pos
session CAD long enough to reach the
boy in the farthest corner of the room,
he learned to read and write and cipher
the first three months OF tie
year that were sometimes spent in
menial drill. or going to school Along
with the pressure of clearing, logging
and chopping three months was the
most a great many received. These
boys and girls grew to be men and
women, and became the sturdy back
bone of the state and nation, produc-
tion of citizenship and civilization
which the world had never seen. AL
though their mental training was very
short, the manual training which they
received in subduing the forest, build
ing homes, locating towns and cities,
starting governments. called forth the
best elements of success in man. Tie
skill of the AK, cradle and the scythe,
the judgment exercised in the start
ing of the above, developed Ohio's
greatest production. the self-made
man, or the man who directs his own
forces in his educational growth.
The short mental drill which he re-
ceived when boy has been of very
great use to him. SO he has fostered ard
protected education to the utmost Ct
his ability. But he has failed to coz
meet the mental drill and work at home
on the farm together. He calls the
mental drill education; the other SIM
ply life.
But the pioneer period is past, the
forests are subdued, also the fertilizing
effects are fast disappearing. The
young man now has nothing to chop
His house now must be built by car
pentcr and mason. He has no part
in its construction unless it be that of
teamstcr Instead of the skillful swis h
of the scythe he must hitch his horses
to the mower, where the skill displayed
in its construction is in the shop of the
large city. The towns and cities have
all been located. What is there then
to call forth the energy, manual skill
and Judgment of the father? why,
anv one can farm now," his father says,
"The land is cleared. improvements
are made Go ahead and make money"
To be sure if you wish to go into any
other profession you must go to school
or college and learn it Farming needs
nothing of that sort. 1t is money and
time thrown away to go to college and
it usually spoils one for the farm"
These are the prevailing ideas among
a large class of our farmers They Go
not stop to consider that a large ma
jority of such farmers are failures
They just simply make a living. They
are not developing the resources of the
country in the least
The easiest way out of the difficulty
is to 60 west, where land is cheaper
and crops grow better because the
land is more fertile, but the time is at
hand when there will be no more west
to go to, as most Of the desirable lands
are occupied.
Now the great problem that faces
young men is not to subdue the forests
of the land but to develop its latent re-
sources and possibilities The problem
is q much greater one than our fore
fathers had before them The former
required manual labor and skill, whit h
seemed apart from science and mental
discipline. The latter must needs &c
hand in hand with science. One must
act and think scientifically to develop
his land with tile and the fertilizer.
The development of necessity re
quires much longer time, consequent
" more thought and skill, than the
subduing; hence the necessity of sci
entific education. We need all the
force and skill of the manual training
of our fathers. together with the scien
tific research and development of the
present time, in order to support the
vast population of our fast growing
cities and to solve the problems which
they bring with them. OF the few sci
entifc farmers scattered through the
state who received a college education
much is to be expected but of the many
more that are teachers of agriculture
more is to be expected in bringing the
average farmer to see his needs ant
possibilities The success or failure O.
the coming farmer depends on you
young men, as you separate and go t.
your various homes, about the state
The great objection to the college ane
university is that so few come in con
tact with its workings. SO tha
comparatively little interest ii
aroused. The spending Of mon
ey collected by taxes SO fal
away from the property taxed is Away
attended by much criticism, vague ane
incorrect ideas of the work actually
done. Now the problem is, how car
we get it before the farmer, SO that HI
and his children may catch the spiri
of investigation and inquiry?
Manual training is fast becoming thu
popular method of education in our cit
les in solving the problem OF what t.
do with the city boy. l think if it wer'
introduced into our country schools i
would solve the problem of the countr.
boy-how to keep him on the farm
Country schools are fast becoming
graded, so that the high school is con
sidered a necessary thing in man.
townships. If this grade were contin
ued still higher to the county seat as il
some counties, then manual training
might easily be applied. The one wa.
in which it could be most easily started
is by means of agriculture, in which I
large majority of its supporters woult
be greatly interested. A piece of lane
for such purpose could be more easil.
obtained than apparatus and machiner,
for other industrial studies. You nigh
,sy equipment could not be obtained to
accomplish much in this way. This
nav be true but even little done in
the crude opportunities offered would
! arouse much interest and create taste
Tor scientific thought and investigation
and application of the same, because II
is done at home and within the react
Of those interested.
| Drainage, fertilizing, rotation, ano
even stock husbandry could be handled
without any great expense. The bes'
farms and farmers could be visited