Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-10-22
Address Of Pres. J. Il. Worst

Address Of Pres. J. Il. Worst
CONTINUED from page ~
pairing our men and our women as
they must be prepared to be effective
economic units"
Movement in Other states.
More than a score of states, most
of them quite recently, have made
legal provision for teaching elemen'
1ary agriculture and domestic science
either in their public schools or IN
special high schools. North DAKOTA
however, is not listed among the num-
Der. doubtless because such subjects
are permissible instead OF being man
datory. Nevertheless, our higher IN
situations of learning and state sup
erintendent of public instruction are
committed to the movement. Inc
time for it's active operation, let US
hope. is not far distant. 1t will then
only be necessary to thoroughly or
ganize the movement and prepare
teachers with the necessary skill and
sympathy to present the work. This
will require time and patience and
zeal. but more than tacit permission
or passive willingness is required to
effectively incorporate the principles
of elementary agriculture and domes-
tic science in the public schools. The
interests most concerned are relying
upor the authorized educational ag-
encies to arrange such plans and de-
tail as will secure positive results.
,,1o
with the mysteries involved in max
ing courses Of study and organizing
educational systems. They always
have and doubtless always will sub
nit the educational destiny of their
children to professional educators.
While no one advocates making far
mers or homemakers in the public
schools, yet whether or not children
will decide between country or city
vocations depends very largely upon
the attitude they develop in the
school and inherit from the teacher
The tendency hitherto has been de
cidedly away from the farm.
For this type of work, teachers will
never qualify in sufficient numbers
until there is a positive demand for
their services-a demand based upon
legal requirements. We have tried
the voluntary, elective, permissible
plan now for a long time without en-
couraging results. The very fact that
we make a subject of such vital i'm.
portance merely permissible carries
with it at least the suggestion that
it is of no serious consequence. Other
and less distinctively agricultural
states have far outstripped North Da-
kota in adapting their educational
ideals and courses of study to meet
modern industrial conditions, espe-
cially in rural communities,
The Schools.
The rural school teacher should not
only be in sympathy with this type
of education but strong factor in
it's successful introduction.
The country boys and girls living
within a reasonable radius of town
or village and having completed the
eighth grade work in the country
school, all that is now provided for
them, also should enjoy high school
advantages.
Every high school receiving state
aid, therefore. should offer courses Of
study embracing elementary agricul-
ture and domestic science, with spe.
cially prepared instructors to present
the work. The assisted high schools
thus ORGANIZED naturally will give
equal emphasis to those subjects hav-
ing a bearing upon rural and upon
urban vocations and at the same time
afford equal preparation for entrance
to the university or to the agricul-
tural college for students desiring
collegiate education.
Cooperation.
This means cooperation, direct and
feasible, between the secondary
schools and the higher institutions of
learning 1t should result in the elm
ination of all institutional jealousy
and prove to be for the betterment
of the states social, professional and
industrial organization. The welfare
of the children and their proper and
effective training for their life work,
whether for professional or industrial
. service. should be our first considera-
ton. The mere success or supremacy
of an educational institution. as such,
should be considered very secondary
matter.
To effect this cooperation so far as
college trained instructors are de-
handed. it should be recognized as
within the province of the agricultural
college to provide a high school in
structor to teach the fundamentals Of
elementary agriculture as we'll as do
nestle science. However, so long as
no legal demand for such instructors
exists, but few students will prepare
themselves specially for this line OF
teaching. This arrangement will give
both the university and the agricul-
tural college equal interest in tho
more efficient organization and in
.spection of the secondary schools, and
will afford both city and country chill
dren equal facilities for preparation
for city or country occupations, or
on the other hand, equal preparation
for entrance to the collegiate courses
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