The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-06-21

citv high schools in 19OS went to col
ieee. 1t is evident from these fgures
that the high school must concern IL
self with something other than the
needs of these pupils who are httlng
for college. / doubt whether any
more unfortunate conception or a
high school exists than that 1t IS a
preparatory school ana whether any
more absurd criterian Of emergency
could be cited than that of the num-
Der of pupils sent to college. Both
are vestigial characters LETT during
the evolution Of education from the
autocratic to the democratic form.
A large percentage of the boys and
girls who attend our high schools Nlii
have no further education, indeed
most of them will not even 1hlsii
their high school course.
The Higher Studies.
Is there not something OF more
worth that can be gwen to these pu-
pills than the curriculum as now or
ganiZeI? Is the large amount or
time devoted to Latin ana even al
zebra as we'll spent as it could be?
In 1900 349 pupils studied in these
schools; IN 1908, 1856. The mum
Der is increasing rapidly. Would you
have these 10000 or 20. 600 of the
next few years divide their time thus?
Would you wish your boy to do SO IF
he were then to leave the school to
enter upon a rural life i confess
to you frankly that / cannot recall
a more pitiable incident than when on
a recent visit to a high school some
twenty miles in the country, I asked
the principal what the pupils were
studying. He proudly replied so
many Latin, so many Greek, as though
his sole thought rested here. To see
these tWenty-lhree faithful, ambitious
pupils, practically all Of whom were
to become farmers, devoting their
only student years to these subjects
to the entire exclusion of all science
of all knowledge Of soils, plants, ami
mails, air, sky, was truly pitiful.
Doe it Fit the Need?
Does our course of study fit the
needs of those who pursue it? Has
the teacher succeeded in adapting 1t
to changed needs as conditions
TALLY, even the farmer in his proven
bal conservativeness has not been
as conservative as has the average
schoolman.
There. was a time when Latin and
Greek were unitarian studies. They
may even be said to ave formed a
part of Industrial education. A few
centuries e they were strictly
unitarian in law, medicine and theo-
logy. This is true to an extent today
for these professions. At one time
these subjects comprised nearly all
of education. With the passing of
education from the few to the masses,
to all, must the same industrial CON
tent be preserved Why do we place
Latin and algebra in our high schools
to the exclusion of the science and
of agriculture? Some would base
their answer upon the culture value,
the MIND training offered by these OBJ
jects. | believe that in fact the rea-
son lies in the inertia of the genus
Homo. 1t is easier to follow the rut
than to break q new track.
Upon IA Rational Basis.
Your State superintendent of public
III schools says, The high schools
are trying to adapt themselves to the
needs of the life and conditions about
them and to adjust their courses of
instruction more to the needs of the
individual pupil; in short, they are
rapidly becoming more and more eff
cient, and as they thus improve they
are securing better financial support"
This is Well. God speed them in
the effort. But the end is yet far
when of $50 public hig schools we
find onlv 27 or IS per cent teaching
any agriculture, though all but two
have classes In Latin. Botany and
chemistry and domestic science are
too insignificant to even find a place
in the urinary This deficiency is
SO giaring that it called for vigorous
protest at the last meeting of the
Wake Forest, where too, the main
burden of the presidents CDR. Coker
of Chapel HID report was to empha-
size the necessity of placing our high
school curricula upon a rational basis.
The public, to which the schools
have TO go for money, is demanding it.
The proper growth Of the North Car
DINA high schools will be seriously
jeopardiZed unless proper heed is
paid to this rational demand
The Work Is Important.
THE development of these schools
is the prettiest and the most important
piece of educational work the South
now has Immediately before 1t. 1t
is a constructive work and calls for
men of ability and aggressiveness.
Mere initiative capacity in the high
hoo principal must give way to
constructive ability. If the instruc-
ton given in these schools can be