Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1905-03-25
AID 70 STATE scHoo OILS.

Are Our Educational Institutions
Duplicating Courses Unnecessary
Fargo Forum: The governor has
completed with great care 8 task
which should not have been exacted
Of him. He has been forced to cut
down by veto, appropriations for edu-
cation which the legislature had
passed in excess Of funds available.
The legislature yielded to importuni-
ties from the friends Of the state edu-
cational institutions, and these de-
mands were made by each institu-
ton with supreme regard for It's own
individual interests, and with little
reference to the benefit of the state
educational system as whole. It is
but justice to these gentlemen to say,
that it is no more agreeable to them
to waste their time and lower the dig
nifty of their positions in cut-throat
scramble for legislative appropria-
lions, than it is edifying to the people
of the state to witness the spectacle.
They will be forced to continue this
unseemly rivalry until the system of
state education is treated as one CO.
hesive system and until each state
school has it's scope clearly defined
with reference to that of every other
Then the appropriations will be right
ly apportioned, and every part Of this
system will come to it's own, the
whole system in every part being ad-
ministered with an economy and eff
cheney impossible under the present
disordered conditions. r."
A prominent cause of waste in each
Of the educational institutions of the
state, and of friction between them,
is the unnecessary duplication of de-
partments instruction. Some subjects
must indeed be taught in more than
one Of the state schools, but only to
such an extent as is required by the
scope and purpose of each school. A
few among the many unnecessary du-
plications are here cited.
Practically identical courses in
science are offered at the university
and the agricultural college, and are
thoroughly and therefore extensively
taught in both institutions. The agri-
cultural college inherits these depart
ments from the days when the uni
versity was weak in it's instruction in
science. That defect has been ably
remedied Of late years. The time is
approaching when the agricultural
college can hand over to the state
university this department, except so
much Of 1t as must be retained in con-
nection with practical agricultural
training. This would be to the equal
advantage Of each institution. Prac-
tical work In such branches as farm
mechanics might well, at the same
time, be eliminated from the univer-
sity. These adjustments should be
thoroughly discussed and prepared in
all their details before the next ses-
sion Of the legislature. Such a
course would be in harmony with the
policy Of the present administration
OF the agricultural college, this ad-
ministration having increased the
college eight fold in ATTENDANCE, eff
cheney and popularity by developing
it along agricultural lines. Yet at
present its income, which is sorely
needed for further development in
this direction, has to be expended in
large part upon educational work
which is not within its province.
Such change would therefore re-
move great burden and embarrass-
ment. The elementary studies might
be retained for the present, in view
of the great need of them felt by
considerable number of students who
have not been able to obtain
thorough common school education at
home but should be taught solely as
part of the farmers equipment.
The course should also recognize
farming as profession, and should
form and discipline, as it does now.
mind and taste and character as for
noble profession. But this can be
best done when the scope of the agri-
cultural college is defined by the
necessary equipment for a farmers
life. While the university and the
agricultural college thus duplicate
one another's courses there Is tripli-
cation, in. the establishment of the
state school at Wahpeton.
Courses are also duplicated unnec-
essarily by the university and the
normal schools. Pedagogical instruc-
tion at the university should be
limited to the needs of high schools.