Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1910-09-28
NEW IDEA in SCHOOLS.
What One Iowa County Snperin-
tendent is Doing With
Country Schools.

Ioday the visitor to the Page
county, Iowa, schools will not hear
many recitations about Bulgaria,
Baluchistan or Mesopatamia, but he
wiz find the boys and girls, their
faces eager and shining, at work
over Babcock milk tester, or
| seed termination box, reading the eX
pertinent station or the department
of agriculture bulletins which are to
to be found by the dozens on the
library racks, judging corn, testing
seed, studying weeds and insects and
solving problems expressed in home
ly, everyday terms with which they
are perfectly familiar.
Such problems, worked day after
day, with practical object lessons al
ways before him, made an alert,
practical farm boy out of the Bull
garia-confused parrot-blockhead of
yesterday. The effect has been no.
ticeable in the homes as we'll as in
the schools. Miss Field, the County
Superintendent, narrates this &C
tual experience in her county.
Farmer A wanted to buy a stack of
hay from Farmer B, but they could
not agree as to the amount of hay
in the stack and neither had a reli-
able rule for computing it, A need
ed the hay very much and when he
went home at night he looked tired
and worried. At supper his wife
noticed this and asked what was
the trouble. He replied, Il can't
make deal for the hay with Neigh
Dor B. We don't agree as to the
amount in the stack and we haye
no rule by which we can tell the
for more than is there and he is
afraid he won't get pay enough and
so it stands" The bright-eyed son
looked up eagerly. PA, have you
the measurements for the stack? Is
it wild hay? Let me have them.
We learned just last week at school
how to measure hay in the stack"
So the number of tons were COM
puted-the farmer and the farmer
to-be-with heads close together
over the paper. The telephone rang
up Mr.. B and the deal was made
that night.
That farmer decided anew that
the taxes which he paid for his
school and its good teacher were the
best investment he had ever made"
comments Miss Field. Down at
that school his boys and his girl
were securing knowledge they
would need to use when they were
on farms of their own so that no
one could take advantage of them
or pull the wool over their eyes in
a business deal"
One of the things of which Miss
Field is most proud is the formation
of Boys Agricultural club, to
which every farm boy in the county
is eligible. Not only are the boys
instructed in corn testing, planting
and judging, but county contests are
held for which prizes are offered by
the local merchants. How success
full these local shows have become
is evidenced by the fact that last
fall the Page county boys took first
in every class in corn for Iowa at
the National Corn Show held at
Omaha, while the county exhibit as
whole wen first place. A member
of the Boys Agricultural Club won
the grand champion sweepstakes at
the Iowa state fair in 1909.
The parents have begun to drop
in to the school houses to read the
farm papers and bulletins on the
racks and to absorb always with
an air of looking ON useful knowl-
edge of which they are themselves
in need. You know a farmer will
never come out and say he wants
to learn a new thing" comments
one who now admits his interest
was selfish, but if he can look over
the fence and see it he will sneak
home and try it on the back forty"
And the mothers are learning,
too, for while Miss Field is partial
to the boys she is teaching the girls
to sew, to test milk, to raise poultry
and to cook good, wholesome meals.
From Raising a Crop of Young
Farmers by F. G. Moorehead, in
Technical World Magazine for Oc-
tober.