The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-08-02

stones in our grave-yards.
From the very nature of conditions then we
should teach agriculture in our public schools.
1t makes no difference how much we develop our
industries, or how much we build up non-farming
avocations, we can be sure that just as sure as the
sun rises and sets, there will be thousands of our
young men and women each year who will take
up agriculture as the gainful occupation in this
great State. Is it then wisdom on the part of our
educators, of our teachers, and of our parents to
give these future farmers some instruction, some
training along the line Of work that they are to
follow in life? You say that eve would do this if
we could; it is not possible because our teachers
are not trained to teach agriculture" [ believe
that if we wait until the teacher voluntarily
trains himself Or herself to teach agriculture, we
will wait until Judgment day. If, on the other
hand, we accept the dictum, that "the proper way
to do a thing is to do it" and the proper way
to teach agriculture is to teach it, then aye, very
soon, our teachers will prepare themselves and
they will teach agriculture just as successfully
as they now teach any of the studies in the
school course. Nav, further than this, the aver
age school teacher knows more about agriculture
to-day than he or she does about most of the
studies that are now being taught. To teach
some agriculture does not mean to know all agri-
culture, and if you simply teach ordinary facts
that will make life happier and sweeter and the
farm home better, this is a good beginning and one
that will bear rich fruits.
The average school teacher knows these things
he or she has a better soul Interpretation of the
simple agricultural truths than he or she has of
grammar, physiology or ONE other studies that
she is now teaching, and with a simple textbook
If II not q HifnoI1 thinr + n rof q o1oSCiHol do
s~cription of the factors of the soil, the plant and
the animal.
/ would teach agriculture as everything else is
taught in the schools. I would use a textbook:
assign lessons; perform simple exercises; train
the pupils in lines of observation and Judgment,
and in doing so, there will result an enthusiasm
for this great field of nature that can never be
stayed. I hear some critic object on the ground
that our school course is already filled and there
is no room for agriculture. All I have to say to
that is, simply make room for. it. I believe that
within the next one hundred years the school
course will have passed through such an evolution
that the nineteenth century teacher would not
recognize it. No teacher who stands for progress
can say that there is no room for agriculture in
the schools. The school course can bit adjusted
readily so as to include agriculture, and there
need be no croWdlng about 1t. L say that agrlcul-
ture is so important that if there is-any crowding
to be done, let us crowd out some of the things
that are of less Importance. The country school
is the farmers school, and it is a mark of ignor-
ance to say that this farmers school shall not
teach agriculture. There is room for it there.
and if one wants to help the school and the people
there will be little or no difficulty in finding a
place for agriculture. Besides all this, there are
many State now, East and West, North and South.
that have found room in the school for agricul-
ture, that have found teachers who could teach it,
and that have found eager pupils to learn of
nature and her ways. Let us always remember
that we can never straighten the oak after it has