Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-01-30
SHALL WE EDUCATE
THE FARM BOY ?

The Pacific Tree and Vine, publishes
the Following extracts from an interest
ing address delivered by w. G. Sprague,
editor OF the American Boy:
shan We educate the farm boy?
Tor one, do not answer no" but the
question sets me thinking, and may /
hope II sets You doing the same" Shall
We, Indeed, educate the farm boy? IL
80. how far2 In what direction? by
what means? for what?
For what shall We educate the fam
boy? A hundred thousand farmer IA
theirs answer I'm no uncertain voice.
For the farm" \ million men Of the
work shops and the marts Of trade echo
the answer, Yes. for the farm. Don't
send them to us, Keep them In the free
air Of Gods green country But what
say the boys themselves? A multitude
answer, For anything. but above all.
give us an education" while another
great multitude look up from their toll
with vague, wondering, ambtionless
gaze, and answer not at all.
The question for what?' must be
answered In every home by the boy
and his parents, after nicely weighing
the thousand and one conditions that
surround the boy, ana carefully study
ing the boy himself II will not do TO
say, This boy was born on farm,
and therefore educate him for the farm
Keep him on the farm" Common
sense would dictate that we educate
him for that which God Intended him,
and IL is not so hard to determine this
as men suppose, II we set about II
right. But II everything In and about
the hoy marks him for the farm, what
them Well, the question Of education
for this boy resolves itself into the
subordinate questions, How? Where
To what eXtentY
Let us answer the how" Shall we
send him TO college? II so, what kind
Of college. and what kind Of a course?
Shall the course be classical scientific,
philosophical? Shah II include Greek,
Latin. French, German moral and men.
tai philosophy, political economy, AZ.
tr0nomy, higher mathematics, Shall
we lay the foundations deep in the sub.
strata Of ethics, history, literature? Try
any one Of these, and the chances are
that the boy viii be lost TO the farm
forever. For every one boy who goes
TO the classical school for training and
returns voluntarily 10 the plaw, 10000
turn their backs on that symbol Of ru-
rul life. Send a country boy TO col
lege and expect him back to water
stock and cut corn. and you are doomed
10 bitter isappOintment But may he
not pursue at college such scientific
studies as form natural part Of the
equipment Of an educated farmer ESQ
calledl, such as chemistry aud botany,
and return thus equipped TO take up his
life work on the farm? He may and
he may not The chances are he VIII
not College life will have done It's
deadly work; the boy viii have
breathed In an atmosphere heavily lad
EN- with professionalism, and the allure
ments of law, medicine, literature, or
business will have bound him with
links OF steel Observation leads me
to say that the farm boy who goes
away from home to institutions of
learning, to mingle with boys, 10 per
cent Of whom come from city and cotn-
try towns, and are bound for city life,
viii never return, save for periodical
visits to the old folks. Twenty-Five per
cent OF the membership OF my class IN
college were boys from the farm, ana
not one OF them returned to the parclI'
tal roof tree,
Prof. Vincent Of the Chicago univer-
sity says that II he wanted To make
blacksmith OF boy he would send
HON tn collage: but we haven't yet
heard from the boy, Blacksmithing ~
honorable: but u when a boy mas gone
through college and got an insight INTO
the great world W knowledge. ne mas
no ambition I'm lines Of WORK higher
than that OF blaCksmiJhlng, there Is
something wrong with the BOY.
Then the query suggests ITSELF what
about the agricultural college, mere
the objection holds TO a less extent Dut
there Is still danger Away from Inc
sometimes munotonous round or Ialh
work, IN an atmosphere Of comparative
freedom fran restraint, oiten IN pop
ulous Communty learning to ape the
thoughts and manners or the vty ABOUT
him, with growing insight into me-
broad fields Of knowledge opening DE,
fore his eyes BY contact with books anal
men of culture. the chances are 'hal ne
becomes restless. and wonders II after
an the country is the place Tor him,
Nav there not he hc asks greater re-
turns for his efforts q wider scope for
his abilities, An other directions By
insIdious advances the city with It's
MYRIAD attractions forces IT'S way
mo HlN HfhlA NlIA l'AI'ff ''''N' Wv ''.'
ambition fades into an impossible real.
lty. lie still loves the farm but nmhi.
lion. by which vice fell The angels.
has turned his gaze TO other ana, as
ne thinks, fairer fields, Even I'M such
schools as give TO the employment Of
farming the most attractive colonng
there lies danger TO the farm boy
who would honestly strive 10 remain
a fran boy, though an educated one.
The problem with every agricultural
school must be- TO keep the life Of the
farm attractive, TO teach the nobility
OF labor with the hands when directed
by the understanding mind, 10 present
farming as pursuit requiring tho best
talent and affOrdlng tho richest rewards
OF study ana ondclYor, 60 cnsender the
spirit OF emulation among boys Of the
farm class. and TO religlously exclude !
every influence that tends 20 magnify !
the pleasures and profits Of city life ~ |
compared with those Of the country
But the "how" comes fraught with |
the greatest significance 10 the boy |
who cannot 50 to either the classical