The Wisconsin weekly blade. [volume] (Madison, Wis.) 1916-1925, 1917-08-09
FIXED PROGRAM
FOR EDUCATION
General Plan For Teachers And
Pupils Outlined.
FIVE TYPES OF INSTRUCTION

Ponds Upon the Proper Cultivation of
the Soil, Says DR.. Thomas Jesse
Jcnes-VaIus of Gardening as an Ele
mentary School Activity Emphasized.
The report of DR.. Thomas Jesse
Jones of the bureau OF education
at Washington on the progress and
facilities for the education of the col
ored people Is the most complete work
on the subject which has ever been
given to the public. For the past three
years DR.. Jones has been travelling.
gathering information and studying
the subject Of education for the race.
Discussing race needs as they apply to
rural life, DR. Jones says:
Next to the need of q genuine an
probation Of the Importance of rural
education in the development of the
colored people and of t eouth is til
demand for clearly defined program
OF courses adapted to the age and atti-
tude of the pupils and to the income
and general plan of the institution and
Its teachers. Hitherto the prevailing
conception Of agricultural education
seems to have required elaborate
courses i'll theory, a large farm and
extensive equipment both in machin-
cry and in stock. The majority of the
schools, realizing that they had neither
the inclination nor the financial means
to undertake such a plan, followed
their own desires and devoted their
energy to literary courses.
THE few schools that were sufii-
GENTLY interested to try to teach agri-
culture plunged In at an elaborate rate,
and almost all of them failed to realize
their purposes. 1t is not to be under
stood that this failure means that no
good resulted from their efforts On
the contrary, very important gains
were made in overcoming the deep dis
like for the soil which generations of
slavery had developed. Through the
elaborate equipment and the complexi-
ties of agricultural theory the Negro
youth and his parents began to believe
that some education might be obtained
in agricultural schools.
1T would therefore be quite unjust
to claim that no good resulted from
the elaborate method. The real criti-
cism is that large number of schools
We're led to believe the teaching of ag-
riculture to be beyond their financial
means and equipment and that the
schools attempting agriculture did SO
at considerably larger cost than was
necessary. The improvement of rural
conditions and the proper cultivation
Of the soil require at least five types of
instruction adapted to the varying
needs of the five groups whose inter
est is to be awakened They are:
"First.--Scienee and practice Of gar
dening for all pupils in rural and ur
ban schools.
Reconnaissance and practice in gar
dening, with instruction in civics, eco
nomics and teacher training for all sec
ondary pupils and persons preparing to
be ministers and teachers.
"Third.-Two year courses in agri-
culture to prepare farmers for the cul-
tivation of the usual thirty or forty
acre farm
"Fourth.-Four year courses for those
desiring to be agricultural teachers,
farm demonstrators or managers of
large farms.
"Fifth.-Rural extension activities for
the entire community. The needs of
the pupils and the limited school equip
ment of a majority of the colored
school admit of only one or at most
two of these courses.
mo phase of agricultural instruction
has been so much neglected as garden
ing. The propaganda for country life
and agriculture In America seems to
have overlooked the garden and to
have left 1t to the whims OF the sub
urban soil enthusiast. No phase OF soil
culture has such variety of important
possibilities as gardening. These pos
sibilities include the economic returns
of the home garden, both In town and
country, and especially its use to sup
plement the salary of the rural teach
er and minister. They include the
educational value Of the garden as an
elementary school activity, as an Illus
tration of intensive agriculture, as a
laboratory for agricultural schools and
as the recruiting field in which pupils
may be introduced to the wonders OF
soil culture and thus won for serv-
ice in rural life Furthermore. garden
ing has unique value in the cultivation
Of character, both In the individual aud
in the family. This social value Is at
tanned by the union of the family In
the planting and cultivation, by eX'
change and cooperation with the
nelghbors similarly engaged and by
the Development Of marketing skill and
habits of saving small earnings.
"In view of the large proportion OF
colored people in rural districts and on
farms it is evident that every second
airy school and every private and high
er institution should make it possible
for pupils to appreciate the economic
and social significance Of gardening
and soil cultivation to know the rela-
ton of soil to soul. to know that farm
ing is not mere drudgery, but the
source of culture as well as Of pros
perity. Such is the importance or
rural life that the teachers Of other