The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1909-02-15
SCHOOL COURSES AND AGRI-
CULTURE.

ident e. A. Bryan of the Washington
State College, gave an address, "Edu-
cational Needs of Country Life" in
phasis to the need for establishing
agricultural education in the rural
country schools of the state. He said:
Men nowadays are coming to under
stand that education in the highest
and most practical sense of the word
can be derived from the study of such
subjects as agriculture and horticul-
ture. Men realize today the value
of an education of the kind that has
to do with the vital problems of agri
culture; and they further understand
that education Of this character should
begin early in the life Of child.
When l was a boy saw fungus
growth upon an orchard tree, and, like
many men of that time, gave no
thought to it, except, possibly, merely
rejecting that the fungus was put
there by a special act of divine Provi-
dence, and that there was nothing to
do but to wait for the tree to die.
Nowadays we know better.
The code commission of this state
now has in hand the preparation of a
school code which will, I understand,
affect quite considerably the school
system of the state. Doubtless, II
adopted, the provisions of this code will
govern in education for many years
to come. The provisions of the code
should be such that agricultural edu-
cation in the rural schools will be
amply provided for.
When we mention education we
cation, though, as matter Of fact,
the school is only one of the means,
the most important single means, but
not the only means. The crops and
animals and activities Of the farm
offer the most varied and the most
stimulating means Of such mental de-
velopment. But the key to the accu-
INFLATED stock Of knowledge, past and
present, is to be found in books. And
pitiable indeed, with all his shrewd-
try boy be and become, if he does not
use the school and use it WELL And
first of all and most important of all
he must be well grounded in the rudi-
ments. We laugh at the three Rs,
but there is almost a round world
within them.
Education develops the mind largely
through it's environment and renders
1t capable of dealing with its environ
ment. The great neglected field in
rural schools is the use of agriculture
as a means of that education. There
is no better means Of education than
the common things about us if they
are rightly used.
To have a good rural school they
must be large enough to lay the basis
nearly always a poor school. Better
be large enough for two or more grades.
To this end the rural schools should
be consolidated. Districts should be
reorganized along typographical lines
and the area included be enlarged To
this end means for hauling the children
to the school center should be provided.
To this end, too, good roads should be
built. In fact, the consolidated school
is an impossibility without the con-
struction of good roads.
We should reach the point where
the same teacher should teach the same
school for several years, so that there
might be continuity of the work and
acter as well as in imparting instruc-
ton. Good salaries, when measured
by the yearly return, are essential to
continuity of service. The teachers
xaa,ls.t hn mad f1a.. tho x.1aa,,Iiar 4ac