The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1917-10-16

Falls business men and the farmers
about here and certainly there should
be no dead line.
1t was my privilege recently to talk
before some teachers on the teaching
of agriculture. One teacher asked me
what was the use any way in teaching
agriculture? She said: I'm the town
where / teach l know the parents
don't wish their sons to become farm
ers nor their daughters to become
farmers wives and the boys who come
in from the farms in the country spend
all their time out of school on the
farm and shouldn't they be broadened
by being taught something besides
agriculture the few years they are in
school " l responded that the reason
for teaching agriculture, as l see il lis
not at all to make farmers or farmers
wives out of pupils taking the course.
/ realize fully that many of the very
best professional men in our large
cities are brought up on the farm and
we must keep a constant stream OF
our country blood flowing to the cities
in order to keep them from becoming
stagnant pool or a salt sea. But
the reason for teaching agriculture is
that the boy or girl may know the
science of the things which surround
him and the things with which he
comes in contact every day If he
knows how to make the most of the
things that surround him now. he
will much more likely be able to
make the most of any circumstances in
which he may be placed later on. On
this tract. for instance, there are mil
lions of dollars worth of wheat mark
eted every year and hundreds of thou
sands of dollars worth of potatoes and
other crops. and l feel that the pupil
is not well educated here who does not
know what good wheat is or the dis
eases of potatoes or something about
their culture. To illustrate what l
mean, a teacher told me last year
that hse asked a boy in Pocatello
how high the hills were that he could
see from his window at school, and
he responded, $4,000 feet. The teacher
drew the moral that there was little
use of teaching him about the glories
of the Canadian Rockies or the height
of Mt Mckinley when he thought his
own foothills were $4,000 feet high.
And l say. what is the use of teach
ing children about the wonders Of
things far removed from their daily
| lives when they do not even know
the elements of the things they see
each day We do not know what we
are going to be or the circumstances
under which we are going to live far
| in the future | am not long out of
college and I know that / am in a very
different locality and doing very diff
! ferent work from what / expected
when I was in school Look at your
own careers You may be better off
or worse, but are you doing what you
expected to do at the school age? 1t
seems to me that the way to make the
boy or girl know how to take advant-
age of any circumstances into which
he may be thrust later on. is to teach
him to make the most of the things
which surround him here. This dis
! trict and all Idaho. for that matter. is
essentially rural and the neglect of the
study of agriculture seems to me
wrong. The State Extension Service
and the University of Idaho are lay
| ing special emphasis on boys and girls
club work and the teaching of agricul-
ture in high schools and it is largely
for this reason that they do il. We had
fine exhibit at the high school last
week which shows the possibilities in
Boys and Girls club work, but that
is not one per cent as good as it should
be here in this country. Your schools
are offering good courses but there are
few who take them and the reason is
largely that parents seem to feel they
are committing their children to a life
of drudgery on the farm if they al
low them to take agriculture WOn't
you please encourage this subject anc
Boys and Girls club work in this
county? Thank you.