The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1911-09-28
SCHOOLS RESPONSIBLE
SAYS PROF. GIBSON

The following letter, from Prof. l..
y. Gibson, is clipped from the Oregon
ian.
Hood River. Or. Sept. 2l.-The col
umn. Gleanings of the Day. in a recent
issue of the Oregonian contains an out
line Of a plan TO be followed by The
National Association of State immi-
grafton Officials in aiding the Back
TO the Farm" movement. The item
contains the following, "The adoption
Of short course in agriculture in the
public schools will be agitated. II
seems to the writer that the immigra-
tion officials are too modest in wnat
they propose to ask Of the public
schools.
The public schools are largely re-
sp0asible for the abnormal influx from
the country to the city. For century
the educational ideals have induced
young people to seek city life. Sue
cessful business men. great financiers,
prominent lawyers, leading statesmen,
poets, artists, musicians-in short all
characters whose lives betoken prom
Use and prominence in the city-have
been placed before the pupils as proper
ideals with only meek apOlOgetic mem
ton of the farmer. The life of Wash
ingtOn has been presented; and with
it-either expressly or impliedly-the
teaching that in every boy there is a
potential president. The lessons have
been tremendously effective. The
country youths with some aptitude for
success in the city have led the way,
a nf 81
unthinking have followed.
All these ideals are good; but they
need complementing and readjusung.
Some ideals have been emphasized I'M
til they have become trite; others
have been allowed to atrophy through
disuse. There is only one President of
the United States: there are 10, ZOO, 900
people engaged in agricultural pur-
suits. The number of professional
men needed is small compared with the
number of farmers. The ratio of en-
phasis on these several lines of work
should bear some relation to the num-
bers needed in the different vocations.
The school should give more attention
to the successful farmer as an ideal.
The Agricultural College is doing eff
fective work in this line; but directly
it touches only a fraction of one per
cent of the people in its agricultural
courses. Substantially our whole edu-
cational system turns the attention OF
the young people away from rural pur-
suits. The contents of the text books
both pictures and reading matter,
the courses outlined, the tempera-
ments and tastes of the teachers, both
country and city, the instruction given
the ordinary country school with its
isolated setting and meager equipment
all point the way to the city.
For several years Oregon has had a
short course in agriculture in her pub
lie schools. 1t has doubtless done
good: but it has had to compete on un-
tair terms with the strong tendency to
profess onal life. The agricultural
course has appeared in the curriculum
in company with professional, cultural
and aesthetic studies: and with the
educators substantially all aligned
with the professional tendency it has
been abashed in the presence of
pseudo-superiors and all but smothered
in its influence. The school garden
has been inspirational; but while the
vegetables may have grown much, the
size of the garden has grown little.
Most vigorous boys are not satisfied
each with plat of ground four feet
wide and six feet long. 1t impresses
them as trivial. Their ideas and ideals
are larger. The school garden should
grow into the school farm.
The Organization of immigration
Officials might well urge the adoption
of more than a short course in agricul-
ture. There is no sufficient reason
why most of the boys and some of the
girls should not spend half of the
school day in all suitable weather on
school farms. L. b. Gibson.