The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1905-07-15
INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION

at Asbury Park, New Jersey
very interesting report was made
nv the committee on industrial ed
ucation in rural schools, from
which we quote and most cordial
lv endorse the following para
graphs:
ssTbere has never been time In
the history of this country when the
ARGUMENTS for industrial education In
rural communities could be presented
with as great force as at the present
time. At no time before have farm
ers ever stood facing such problems
of industrial organization as they do
today Competition is no longer con-
fined to the commercial world. The
farmer finds himself face to face with
the problems of competition with
farmers in his own and other local
tiles as never before. 1t is no longer
question of the man who can work
the most hours and the hardest, but
it is question of the man who works
most effectively, and he is the one
who has been prepared for it by a
study of what is essential, a training
in thinking and doing in dealing with
these essentials, and who now puts
the best thinking and doing into his
work
'Is it possible that in almost every
other line of human endeavor, schools
have been organized and are being
carried on to train men for law, for
the ministry, for engineering, in fact,
for almost every department of tech
nical labor, and that there is no ne
cessity for schools which will special
" train the farmers boy and girl for
their work upon the farm?
cit may be said that it is not the
business of the common schools to
train mechanics, nor to train farm
ers. That perhaps may be conced-
ed; but it is the business OF the COM
mon schools to so train those attend
ING them as to make them more effec-
tive and resourceful in whatever line
of work they may enter. 1t is the bus
mess of the rural schools, which give
a large majority of the rural school
population all the education they
ever get in school, to definitely train
these pupils with reference to their
present environment; and this is re-
inforced by the fact that the major
portion of these pupils, through the
productive period of life, will be con-
cerned with the activities incident to
country life
cit is time to change front in our
plan of elementary and secondary
school organization It is time to rec
ognize the fact that system of rural
schools should plan its course of in
struction with reference to the needs
of the other 95 per cent of the pupils
who attend them and who attend no
other school, rather than with refer
ence to the small remaining percent
age who go on to more advanced
school. This committee does
not hesitate to say that in it's iudg-
ment the rural schools, which train
nearly one-half the school population
OF this country, SO far as the school
training goes, should definitely rec
ognize the fact that the major
portion of those being trained will
continue to live upon the farm; and
that there should be specific, definite
technical training fitting them for
the activities of farm life. Such
schools will not make farmers nor
housekeepers, but they will interest
boys and girls in farming and house
keeping and the problems connected
with these two important vocations. -
The directors of the Deer Har-
Dor school district have finally dis
posed of the bonds of the district
to the amount of 81 800 to private
bond buyers, at six per cent inter-
est and $25 attorneys fees, the
state land commission having re-
peatedly disappointed them in their
efforts to secure a loan from the
state school fund. 1t is a shame
that any thriving school district
IN the state should be put to SO
rauoh