The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-04-29
VOCATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL TRAINING OF DEPENDENT. CHILD Able And Eloquent Discussion Of Alb sOrbing Question By Head Of
 Noted Institution

of one month he is given a credit of
 seven marks, and then placed on his own initiative.A If at the end of six l months he believes he is measuring up | to the standard, he may request in writing that he be advanced to the
 next grade, which is fourteen marks
 All advancement in grade is deter
 mined upon by the faculty and the
 council (which is composed of the boys having the highest credit marks of thirty-ive. A majority vote of the council decides the request, so that personal prejudice will be avoided in | all cases. At the end of each six
 months period the boy may again re- quest in writing to be advance to 21 | and 28 points, respectively. The high CT in merit marks the boy reaches the more is expected of him in measuring up to the Lincoln spirit, and by that
 is meant boy who is honorable,
 manly and fair in his dealings with his superiors and his associates, and one who is willing to perform an un-1 | pleasant duty readily he would pleasant one The higher the boy gets the more privileges also, he may l enjoy. He may be placed in charge of special work. and when excursions | to state or county fairs, model dairies | are made, he is given the privilege of. being one of the party. The highest | in merit rank a boy may attain is thirty-f1ve marks, and if during the twelve months in this rank, he main tains his high average, the boy is fin l ally awarded the Lincoln School dip 1 1oma, and you may be assured that any boy who is awarded his diploma | is one that will be credit to any community, for he will have proven to be a, dependable, manly and honor
 able boy, fit to enter any home in the land.
 FEW LADS REALLY BAD.
 eYou see that this merit system
 puts the responsibility in measuring up largely up to the boy himself. It is one of the best methods we have Hound. in bringing out the best in a, ] boy and in developing the best that is in a boys nature, and twenty years Iexperience proves to me that mighty few boys are fundaIn entaIly bad | With regard to the vocational I training as followed at Lincolndale, ] this training is directed along the wide range of agriculture. We do not 1attempt to impart industrial educa- ton as it is generally understood, for Icommercia1 life. We do not go into I the technical trades such as printing, and kindred lines. We find that agri- culture covers wide field of indus-7 l trial training and that it not only fconsiders the problems of rural life but also comprises some working Knowledge of the manual arts There used to be a. notion years ago that a boy who did not seem to fit into any commercial or trades line, might be put at farming. but this notion I has, happily, died natural death; 1 for, it is evident that to succeed as an agricu1turalist, one must have a
 more varied range of manual training than the skilled. but confined. trades l worker.
 IMPORTANCE OF FARM WORK.
 ssIt is not very difficult to create a love of agricultural life in the nor nal boy There are so many elements
 appeals to the boys that they take to it very readily, and there are so many divisions of agricultural activ- fty that boy may, by preference, specialize in one or another, after being provided with a general train ing. We have developed at Lincoln- tdaIe a curriculum which seems to meet in an ideal way the demands of primary agricultural education I You must remember that we are taking the average city child who has not only been generally neglected but who also has failed to receive suffi- cient academic instruction to bring
 him up to the average of the boys Of his age. We do not, in general, take a boy in ordinary academic stud- ies beyond the sixth grade. There I fore, the theory of agriculture in the classroom is not carried beyond what | would be this grade. We place great CT dependence upon the actual or
 laboratory work the boys are able to secure by reason of the splendid phy- sica1 equipment which we have at lLincoln school.
 NATURE STUDY A FAVORTTE I ..The younger boys, that is, those
 between the ages of II and 12 years devote one hour each school day be- ginning with nature study and con tinuing into. soils, soil and plant cuI- l tivatfon, and drainage. These boys I have their laboratory practice before land after school hours in the large garden tracts which we have here and I which provide the entire vegetable | production for the maintafnance Of T the school The boys are gradually fadvanced and take up the study of animal husbandry, dairying, hortfcui- ture, plant diseases, insect pests, fer tilizers, etc. After this they are ad- 1 vanced into the large dairy class and itake care of the several large herds which the school possesses. In this divis1on,# also, the classroom theory is confined to one hour day and the practical instruction is received before and after school hours in the
 dairy, in the care of the herd, in the experimental fields. orchards, etc 1 From this grade the boy advances top I the department of field crops for the production of roughage to maintain
 the live stock, and gets there a. thor l o1gh Knowledge of all farm machfn- cry and toels.
 1 Advanced drainage problems are taken up during this period and the laboratory work in connection with fIlilk and butter testing. This special laboratory dairy work takes up two