Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-09-18

upon with favor by majority of our
educators. We cannot too urgently
refer to the Importance of inaugural.
ing as soon as possible system of
agricultural instruction in the rural
districts of Minnesota. 1t is estimat-
ed that there are approximately
/ 100000 people in Minnesota living
on farms, and of this large number
necessarily only very small percent
age can attend our agricultural col
| leges and schools.
TO better illustrate the great dis
parity between the number of young
men and women in our state who are
receiving education in scientific agri
culture, and those who are receiving
professional or academic education,
we desire to call attention to the fact
that in all of our agricultural schools,
including the agricultural college,
there were in 1909, only 1878 stud
ents, and this number includes those
attending the farmers short course;
while the number of students attend.
ing the university alone was 4,436 and
the student enrolment of all public
schools, high schools and rural
schools, in Minnesota was 435,109.
We. of course, realize that in a few
of the rural schools some instruction
in the elements of agriculture is CIV
en- and there have also been recently
ORGANIZED ten so-calld agricultural
high schools" OF the results accom-
plished in the rural schools referred
to- little seems to be known, and it
Is yet altogether too early to form any
conclusions as to the results which
may be accomplished by the agricul-
tural high schools.
Before closing, I wish particularly
to emphasize the fact that the opin-
ion of your committee and of your
executive council is that the most i'm.
pOrtant thing we discovered was that
in Minnesota there was no instruction
in agriculture in our rural schools
along systematic lines. We found
that in the state of Wisconsin they
did have such a system. We found
through talking with the people at the
experiment station and the agricul-
tural school at Madison that they
think a great deal of the general in
terest in agriculture being manifest
ed in that state. They attribute this
to the fact that the children are taught
agriculture in the schools. In Mime
sofa agriculture, outside of our big
agricultural schools, is only taught in
our schools in few places. Nothing
is being done along systematic lines
in the rural schools. We found that
the rural school teachers, as a general
rule, comes from the cities or large
towns, and is not in sympathy with
the environment in the country, and
the influence exerted over the boy and
girl that has to live in the country is
not the best. We find that the teach
ers as rule are paid very small sal
aries in the rural districts, but not
withstanding this we also found that
there was expended in the state Of
Minnesota last year $14,OO0,0O0 for
educational purposes.
We found that there are million
people in the state of Minnesota who
make their living off the farms. We
found that the $14,OOO,OOO referred to
was being expended to educate 1885,
100 school children of all ages, in
Guiding the students of the state uni
versity; we found that 4,436 of these
school children are in the university,
and we found according to statistics
that 1878 of these 435,109 are taking
courses. This is what l
want to call your attention to: the
fact that in Minnesota We are expend-
ing $14,O00,000 to educate $4,000 con.
sumers and 1913 producers. In Other !
words, we are expanding $14,O00,000
to educate what might be called "edu-
Gated parasites" people who live off
If somebody else-and they are living
off of the 1873, generally speaking,
who are taking the agricultural
courses.
Now, I put that in this way because
want to impress upon your minds the
act that there is something in the
educational system that
he business men, that the mothers
Ind fathers of the state want to look
INTO, and that is whether or not their
children are getting value received for
hat $14,O0O,OOO which is being ex-
pended for educational purposes, or
whether that $14,0OO,0O0 is practically
wasted. This is the question for the
'eople Of the state of Minnesota to
liscuss today.
l want to call your attention to the
act that in Minnesota, as in every
Their state in the union, we have been
blowing along educational lines es-
ablished 100 years ago. Conditions