Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-03-06

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The school garden part Is so simple,
30 easy VI realization IN SOME degree
| when once understood. that no school,
however small or poorly equipped, need
rail- III the work OF doing some agrlcul-
ttire when the teacher is competent. So
tho vital need Is competent teachers
Let us now consider how'ths work OF
training teachers can best be done. so
as to insure the efficiency OF the teach
er ms well as TO maintain economy Of
expenditure in his preparation for egri-
cultural education. We have no doubt.
Judging from our own experience and
from the very nature of the subject,
that the most economical and efficient
plan IL to have the agricultural college
and the normal school departments OF
the university and to have them assoc
clated In one place and combined on
one campus under one administrator.
Such a combination would furnish ex-
pert knowledge and skill needed for the
training not only of agricultural teach
ers but for all others as well, the equip
ment OF all the schools would be avail
able for each and expensive duplication
avoided. each can help the other so
much that there would be an enormous
gain In efficiency, and saving In expen-
dlture. But the great reason is the adj
vantage which this union affords for
the superior training Of teachers. EN-
pert knowledge in many lines of sell
ence. natural history, and business are
required for successful agricultural
practises, while tho necessary psycho-
logical and pedagogical training OF
teachers cannot except at great ex-
pense. be supplied by any one OF these
institutions standing by Itself 1t Is not
enough that the public school teacher
shall know agriculture, he must be prl-
marily a teacher; he must know the
best normal methods; his view point
must be that of the child While this
is true of all the subjects taught In
the public schools it Is particularly and
In paramount way true OF the science
and art of agriculture. Above any other
subjects taught In the public schools. 1t
Is particularly and in paramount way
true OF the science and art of agricul-
ture. Above any other subject in the
school curriculum, agriculture presents
special difficulties In teaching; and
more than any other subject. IL requires
the successful application Of the prin-
clples of sound pedagogy in order to be
successful. All the ingenuity, tact, and
even devices of good teachers must
b. here employed. or we shall fail. The
great problem will be how TO sustain
the interest of the child I'm the work,
for Notwithstanding the beauty of the
science and the naturalness of the art
of agriculture. children will lose inter-
est in it simply through waiting for its
results, unless the subject matter is
made, by pedagogical methods. TO con-
form to the natural interests of the
child. The growth of plants is very
slow. The results in farming are not
attained until the end of the season:
often not then. Soils in and of thom-
selves may be very embarrassing
things; fertilizers stu more so; and
likewise OF some of the farm processes.
The interest of the adult Is easily sus-
tanned because he can forosee the re-
suit To him the end means money
and profit; but the child In the early
years OF his school life cannot foresee
the end. He has little interest in profit
or loss; he will not. he cannot wait for
his result until the plant natures and
the crop Is sold. In order to sustain his
the results must be Immediate.
as they appear TO him TO b. in gram
mar, arithmetic and any other school
subject. 1t is here that the art of
teaching will be always Indispensable.
The more mere knowledge any agricul-
tural expert has tic more dangerous
he might become in the schoolroom
from this very fact; for II he lack the
teachers art his superior knowledge of
agriculture can but serve to carry him
and his instruction still farther away
and disgust the child with the subject.
II is for these reasons that the normal
school must train teachers to teach ag-
for scientific farming is the
most complex of the nature arts and
sciences. The adult learns it in some
direct and condensed way.
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES.
II the normal work for training
teachers of agriculture should be add
ed to the agricultural college the latter
would need to incorporate into lis or
ganlzation complete normal school.
II agriculture Ia to be added to the
normal school. the latter must have
the services of agricultural teachers as
part of its faculty The first alterna-
tive would requin, the agricultural
college to duplicate everything the nor
NAL school does. The second aterna-
tive would require that the nor
nal school should secure the services of
several agricultural experts for ri least
y part OF their time, as Is now carried
on at the Utah state normal. This year
we have found II sufficient to receive
from the Agricultural college the SER
vices of an expert on soils and farm
crops of another OH economic etomolo-
gy. of another on horticulture and OF
another ON birds. We get the SER
vices of one professor one day each
week through the scnOOl year, JnlS
is. Of course, in addition to the regular
nature study instruction, which re-
qlLires two days more per week. and Is
given by the regular professor and d.
rector of nature study in the state
normal school of Utah.
COOPERATION THE KEY.
In those states In which the three
institutions, the university, the agricul-
tural college and the normal school.
are entirely separate and apart from
one another. the agricultural college
should maintain branch experiment
station on the campus Of the normal
school. so that the specialists In charge
Of that station would also be available
for use by the normal school. This
cooperative work between the two
schools should be managed us extern
sion work ON the part of the agricul-
tural college. Just as the farmers in
stitutes are part of it's extension work.
This normal institute, as species OF
extension work. would be center for
this kind OF activity. and would no
doubt accomplish more than many or
perhaps all the other institutes de-
voted directly to the interests of farm
ers. That is In its final results IT
would train the teachers and they
would disseminate what they had
learned; and thus the benefits to agri-
culture would be enormously multi
Dlied