The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-01-20
tbe trend Of education has been city

the trend Of education has been city
at is therefore very important, II 81
child is TO remain on the taFI1, lna
during the early years OF ms ~ ra.
be taught to know and love 49,
should be taught the greatest OF nay
it's, that of keen and accurate OBSERVE
ton: the beauty of his surrout!1lhse
should be pointed out; n a STUDY u
the great laws upon which agrlcuiIuie
is based should be started. 1t IS Tue
duty of the secondary and elementaly
schools to unlock the doors OF nature
SO that nature and natur iahH
will not always be hid in nignt
to the vast majority of soil toll
ers and bread winners. They muse
be lifted above the condition ol
ignorant and hopeless drudgery
wherein they are fated to wrest their
bread from an unwilling soil ny d
grim, sullen exertion of dull brain ana
| weary muscle.
Gail fathers and mothers must bend
their energies in the future IN the
support of elementary and secondary
| schools. See to the correct startlnS
of the child so that his future may not
be dimmed by a blind, ignorant, mis-
| guided commencement. 1t is useless
to hope to make farmers from boys
| after they are 16 if the love and the
dignity of the farming profession Is
not there for q foundation.
How many people are aware Of the
great heritage Of which all are JOINT
| heirs? There is not a day that passes
but what they enjoy some of It's
blessings. The heritage Of the IN
race is. to use the hands IN maklng
| things, to grow things, to live with
and near living things. 1t matters
! not in what capacity or path of life
one is found, there cannot be a com
pIete separation of life's interest from
the soil upon which one walks, on the
plants and the animals upon which
life depends. The human life is
| thrown in close touch with this great
heritage and it is only on the farm
that this reaches it's supreme grandeur
and the farmers the greatest heirs.
The aim of the secondary and elemen-
tary schools must be to grasp this
fact, understand life's situation and
cause the boys and the girls of rural
districts to so interpret life and be in
complete harmony and sympathy.
ut is clearly insanity to conclude
that vocational training is for children
who are unsuccessful or backward in
the present scheme of education. Can
it be truthfully stated that any human
being is naturally book minded? If
not, then is it any wonder that the
past system of education has not ans
Wered the demands of life? The great
underlying principle for the training
of teachers and boys and girls as seen
by the demands of today is that of
human interest. Heretofore a large
part of the process if m of it has
had no direct bearing or connection
with the daily life. 1t is to place
the educational work Of today in
complete sympathy with human inter-
est that agriculture and a thorough
understanding of it should be a part of
the secondary schools. The principle
underneath is to bring tho schools and
the homes into harmony. The school
must be an organization closely allied
with the home so that boys and girls
will get the right attitude toward
home-making and the business of
farming or any other vocation which
may be the daily life of the communi-
ty. These two forces working for the
best interest of the child-then will
he be taught to feel, to think. to work
and then will he grow to be a man in
the truest sense. No mother has a
right to think or feel that the school
can wholly supply her child with all
or LIES equipment and hat she need
no longer show in the home life the
art of baking, cleaning or cutting of
garments. No father must drop out
of comradeship with the child or feel
that the son need no longer be shown
things connected with the daily chores,
building Of fences, repair Of buildings.
The school can never go so far, but
must be a helpmate. The school has
no. right to- show, to feel, or to infer
that it is superior to any task, BUSH
ness, industry, or home. 1t is on the
same plane and must walk hand in
hand with the home and the daily
needs of the people.
Schools are beng Judged by their
products just the same as a farmer Is
judged by his farm or a man by his
profession. Each day is an examina-
are asked what they can do and how
well can they do the task. chools
teachers, farmers, all should be group
ed and classified according to their
power in, interpreting human needs in
the terms of present day demands and
the meeting these by the greatest eff
hciency of human service. Agriculture
IN secondary schools has already prov
en- its place. A well equipped teacher
went n a rural school in a neighbor-
ing state-downed all opposition of the
people of that district-taught the boys
and the girls the dignity of labor. Last
October, when one of the farmers pur-
chased some alfalfa seed, his son took
a sample to school and there with the
aid of the teacher and other pupils
they found the seed to be adulterated
with ten different kinds of weed seeds,
Better to have them known before
than after planting. Surely she had
rendered a service to that man and
that community too great for words
One Of the high schools Of the state OF
North Dakota formed a cow testine
association. The farmers would do the
weighing Of the milk while the boys
would do the collecting of samples and
the testing. The test, covered a period
of thirty-one days. Two cows from
this test can be taken as an example,
Cow No. 1 gave S6S pounds of milk
which tested Az per cent thus giving
36.5 pounds butter fat valued at $13.14'
During this time she consumed feed
valued at 50. thus giving her owner a
Cow No. Q gave 210.S pounds of milk
with butter fat of 10 pounds valued a,
$4.6i . She also consumed the same
value of feed leaving her owner, a loss
of about $500 or the same as. paying
for the great privilege of caring fol-
Gould there be any misplaced con
fidence in a school where such direct
Lservice was rendered the community?
l. In 1911, one school boy in Alabama
raised 212 bushels of corn per acre a.
the cost Of Sc cents per bushel.
In 1912. 203 boys in this same stat
raised 112 bushels Of corn per acre al
the cost of 81 cents per bushel with {
profit of $SI.24 per acre.
I'm Holmes ounty, Mississippi a
schoolboys' corn club raised corn will
an average of 76 bushels per acr,
while their fathers and the neighbor,
raised but 16 bushels per acre upor
these facts and many more, it does no
| show good common sense for any on,