The independent-reporter., 1910-09-29
STATE BOARD or rRADE.
Continued from Page Three

Bangor boys should not De LEFT with
the perfectly obvious and patent IN
formation that their city Is al the head
Of navigation aud the center Of a
great lumber business Facts be
yond these should be developed aud
taught to the end that there be cult
waited an interest in civic and indus
trial opportunity.
So in every community, most OF all
perhaps in our rural communities, an
efficient teaching force will extend the
work already well begun OF teaching
outward beginning at the standpoint
of the child's present interest.
OUR SECONDARY SCHOOLS.
Especially important Is the oppor-
tunity of our secondary schools. These
instruct in their ten thousand or more
students, the citizens of the imme-
date future Their courses can be
end will be so organized as to enlist
| the direct interest of the students
they now have and attract to their
doors thousands of others who now
drop out of school because they be
lieve higher education will not serve
heir needs. By the introduction OF
agricultural courses in the rural high
! schools and academies and OF mechan-
les arts courses of genuine worth in
cities and industrial centres the instl-
tutions we now have will assist to-
wards industrial education.
Culture, that by-product of educa-
lion which helps one to enjoy the
finer things of life. will not, as many
fear be crowded out of our schools
by these notifications. Rather will
it continue and extend to the en-
richment of more lives. In the re-
adaptation of our high school cours-
es the college will not be factor of
less Importance than it has been.
Rather the college itself, sensing the
peoples need, will prove strongly
influential factor in bringing the pub
lie school system into place OF high
est service.
CONTINUATION COURSES.
A fourth step in industrial educa
ton must lie in the direction of the
extension of educational opportunity
to those who are out of school and
have discovered perhaps late in life,
a new educational need. In one city
of our State it is reported that six
hundred students pay annually twenty
thousand dollars year to certain
correspondence schoo.. These STU
dents, already wage earnc. :, desire to
perfect themselves in their present
trades to prepare for others for which
they deem themselves better adapted.
Every community has examples to
show that ambition to learn does not
end with schools days. Continuation
courses should be organized to meet
the needs of these ambitious men and
women.
The University of Wisconsin
through its travelling professorships
has continuation courses in a large,
number OF trades and in some pro-
fessions. The colleges of Maine can
= and | believe they will, address them
selves to this need Such courses
need not be expensive to the State
since they will be made available to
persons who are employed and thus
able to pay for the service rendered
, them For the sake of a more efficient
; citizenship and hence a more efficient
State the State may well aid in the
organization and direction of such
courses.
DISTRICT TRADE SCHOOLS.
AS to schools for different trades
believe the time is not ripe in Maine
for their establishment and support
by the State. Other states with great
er wealth than ours are trying vari-
Gus experiments in State supported
trade schools. Maine will learn from
the experience of these other states
what course it should follow. AT
present in the wide diversity of her
industries and in the somewhat limit
ed population of even her largest
towns it does not to me appear clear
that this State would be justified in
selecting a single trade for the en-
eouragement of which a special school
!, should be opened and maintained. In
certain important and centralized in
dustries such as the textile or paper
industry, communities should be en-
couraged to sustain such schools as
their resources may permit. To a
limited extent the State would doubt
less be justified in aiding experiments
of this kind. For the present, how
, ever, | believe that industrial educa-
, ton will be promoted by securing
first a common school of supreme eff
ficiency with courses emphasizing
hand work; second, secondary schools
more closely adapted to the needs of
the various communities they serve;
third, continuation courses for all
trades and professions such courses
to be conducted through correspon-
dence courses or extension lectures
from institutions already established
leaving the matter of separate trade
schools to be worked out by the ini-
tiative of local communities and of
the trades directly interested
Good Roads. an Important Element
in the Economic Development OF cur
State" was the subject discussed by
Prof. George T. Files of BoWdoin. He
said In part:
FARMER NEEDS GOOD ROADS.
There has been a widespread opin-
ION, which unfortunately has gained
eredence of late, that the cry for good
ro3ds is a cry either by or for the
automobile interests, and this opinion
las been based in large measure upon
she enormous increase in the use of
the automobile as a common means of
conveyance. | am an automobile en-
thusiast myself-but not to the point
Of madness. realize that it would
5e delightful for the legions who are