The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1909-12-29
EDUCATORS
AT MINOT
Continued from rage one.)

Continued from Tage One.)
Dean Sheppard gave an excellent pa
per on Farmers and Teachers Insti-
tutes. The teachers institute--the
teaching Of the teacher is something
that should NOT be made secondary.
Teachers institute offers means of
influencing for gradual or radical
changes such as may be desired.
'Tt represents suggestive teaching
to experienced people and should be
done by those who are practical and
thorough. 1t reaches from twenty to
thirtyfold more people than are ad-
dressed-young, impressionable people
lit is a hand which is moulding the
active world score Of years hence.
Persons whose choice of occupation
are being slowly formed; persons
whose habits of life are being started;
persons with whom understanding is
an attraction come in daily contact
with the teacher whom the institute
speaker teaches.
"The state superintendent informs
me that twenty-five teachers insti-
/ tutes of one week duration and eight
summer schools or three to six weeks
in length, each representing twenty
counties, have been held during the
past year That 1900 teachers at
| tended these short course schools,
which is, at least one-fourth of the
| teaching population of the state. If
each teacher should come in contact
with thirty pupils during the year, we
| have $4,000 pupils reached by the in
stitute speaker, or about one-twelfth
of our total population.
These are the young, impression
able one in ten to twelve of our popu-
lation, which gives greatly added
! force to the influence which II will
WELD. 1t is needless to say that great
care should be taken as to what is
taught and what impressions are con-
veyed. No feature of education Is so
far reaching as the meeting of teach
ers by live, enthusiastic, brilliant, i'm
pressive men who come into contact
with those who are educated and ex-
perienced, and who need the material
offered for immediate use as is the
case with the teachers of North Da-
kota.
There is a statewide population in
North Dakota interested almost to a
man In agricultural production. Farm
ers have business and family duties
which will not allow them to leave
home-hence the farmers institute
alone can reach them. They are inter
ested in advanced problems of produc-
ton, which offer possibilities of inn
provement so vast that they consti-
tute a heavy asset of state income in
the form OF taxable property. They
70
much Of leisure time to study and read
| in the winter and will develop line
of incisice thought to the limit if the
right seed ideas are dropped into their
| minds.
"Has the state any other lines which
offer so great immediate returns for
educational efforts expended?
North Dakota has 44,910,0S0 acres
of land within her boundary, sufficient
to supply las acres of arabic land to
every man and boy in the state, from
| the babe TO tie octaganarian. 1t will
| furnish to every family of FIVE per-
sons over $50 acres, or a piece Of
| land more than twice as large as the
usual farm unit of a quarter section.
/ This would seem to me to be a suff-
cient argument that school boys
should be given an idea of the oppor-
| tunities which agriculture offers in
this state.
The farmers institute Is the most
practical and effective line of educa-
tional extension in America. It is no
longer a notion but a real working
force.
North Dakota, I am proud to say,
has made splendid development along
this line. From an effort begun by the
workers Of the state experiment sta
ton and agricultural college sixteen
years ago, it has grown until last year
log Institutes were held at as many
points in the state and an attendance
of 46,53S people were registered. The
National Association of Farmers In
stitute workers has agreed that the
official count of attendance on these
sessions shall be made by totaling the
number at each session, or half-da
meeting. Taking this plan of counting
into consideration and making neces-
sary allowance for it, I find that one
person in thirty of the states entire
population was in attendance last sea-
son at the farmers institutes. Those
who sit in institute audiences in this
state are nearly all men, as no pro-
vision for special speakers along
lines in which women are particularly
interested has been made as yet. This
represents a vast additional field
awaiting the institute management, a
feature where it's influence can be
made to reach another field just as
important and nearly as remunerative
to the commonwealth as the one to
which 1t is now devoting its atIen-
ton. 1t is conservatively estimated as
result OF Analysing the attendance
figures recorded at the institute ses-
sions, that one-fifth of the men in the
state of North Dakota sat in institute
audiences last year.
1.-THE men who attend these meet
ings, which are held almost exclusive
during the season when the work is
light and time is abundant have
ample time to develop the thought
suggested by the institute speaker far
beyond the stage the average attend
ant upon a lecture subject can be ex.
pected to do. This is accounted for
in part by having ample time and
from the fact that he is deeply in
terested and working for added pro-
duction with the very thing that has
been under discussion during the
session of the institute He discusses
1t with his neighbor, he tries the new
plan, his neignbor sees his operations
and his results, adopts them, dis
cusses them or denounces them ac-
cording to his impression. Any and
all of which are sure to be educative
~ hriy, o@fY7er mt additional nnnct,5ora