Cows

Dairy type (examine form, milk veins, hide, etc.).

Beef type.

Weather Map

Determine location of storm center.

Physical Experiments

Taken from books on physics. Make suction pump with lamp chimney, etc.

THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS FOR INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN RURAL COMMUNITIES

As a preliminary to the consideration of the specific preparation of teachers needed for industrial phases of education in rural communities, it may be well to take a brief survey of the conditions in these communities from an educational standpoint, in so far as they may indicate the lines of least resistance. in the development of industrial education.

At the present time schools in the country are in the main taught by a single teacher who has to instruct pupils in all stages of advancement from the beginning thru the elementary course, covering a period of eight years. The salaries of teachers are low; the educational and professional qualifications demanded are on the same scale as the salaries paid; the teacher's entire term of service is short, and shorter still in a single school in most cases; the length of the school year is less than in most of the cities and villages of the country; the attendance is irregular; many of the schools are too small to develop any interest or spirit of emulation on the part of the pupils; the equipment for instructional purposes is totally inadequate in most cases; and in most states these schools have practically no effective supervision. Few advanced pupils are found in these schools, most of them withdrawing at or before the age of fourteen. It is recognized that in this last respect the conditions vary in different portions of the country, but the foregoing statement is true of the great majority of the country schools.

There are reasons why such conditions obtain. Among these reasons may be mentioned the sparsely settled condition of many localities; the distance many of the pupils have to travel to attend the school; and the facility with which the children may be employed in various ways upon the farm to assist in the farmwork. But there are other matters more potent than any of these causes. Among these, perhaps the most important is the lack of appreciation, on the part of the parents of the children, of the value of an education, of what is necessary in the way of expenditure to provide educational facilities, and of what is necessary in the matter of time which pupils must be in school in order to secure even an elementary education. Too often the desire for the child's assistance on the farm or in the home is greater than the desire to give him or her a chance to secure an education. In many cases parents fail to see wherein the work of the schools is of benefit to the pupils from what they consider a practical standpoint, and therefore make no effort to keep them in school.

Here and there in rural communities may be found individuals who believe that the schools should furnish something other than they are furnishing in the way of practical education. In few cases has their thinking in this field progressed beyond the point where they have become dissatisfied with existing conditions. In a vague way they feel that something is lacking which ought to be provided; they have not determined what it shall be nor have they taken into consideration the fact that provision for something better means the expenditure of more money, and with greater wisdom than has thus far been shown, and the material lengthening of the time the pupil shall remain in school. It means provision also for far more efficient supervision than exists at the present time, and this means a further increase in expenditure. In other words, betterment of conditions in rural schools means higher standards on the part of the patrons of these schools and the expenditure of much more money in the education of their children than they are now paying.

In a number of states the consolidation of rural schools into graded schools, centrally located with reference to the consolidated districts, has been begun. In few of these schools has anything yet been attempted in the way of industrial education. In many localities the consolidation of the rural schools is not feasible because of the geographical conditions and difficulties in the way of transportation of pupils. Perhaps the greatest difficulty in the way of consolidation lies in the fact that it may mean an increase in the amount of school taxes. In almost any community, when consolidation is proposed, the first question which arises is, Will it increase taxes? If an affirmative answer is given to this question, in nine cases out of ten the discussion is closed and we are driven back again to the necessity of educating public sentiment in the community to a point where people are willing to put more money into the schools.

The proposition to provide means for industrial education in rural communities carries with it the necessity for a campaign of education among the people in these communities. They must be led to see the changes that are going on in this country in production areas for different classes of agricultural products; the necessity for the introduction of scientific farming bec^use of the steady lessening of the native fertility of the soil due to unscientific methods of cultivation; the necessity for introducing more scientific methods of breeding, feeding, and caring for the live-stock upon the farm; and the advantages to be derived from the application of scientific and economic principles in conducting the affairs of the household. They must have put before them clearly the fact that, without an industrial education, their children on the farms do not have a fair chance in life, that these conditions will grow worse instead of better, and that more and more the young people will leave the farm and flock to the city. They must be convinced that the use of more money than they are at present expending for the instruction of their children is a good financial investment, and that if applied to the furnishing of proper facilities for industrial education, followed by the utilization of these facil

ities by their children, the investment is the best possible one they can make.

The development of industrial education in rural communities will undoubtedly demand, and very properly demand, direct state aid; but self help is an essential condition for progress. State aid may provide schools; but there must be a sentiment on the part of the people which will arouse them to do something more for themselves and for their children than they are now doing, and which above all things else shall result in their keeping their children in school during a longer period of time.

In the first report made by this committee in 1905, there were set forth in some detail the character and scope of industrial education suited to the needs of rural communities, and the work which might very properly be attempted in the field of agriculture, manual training, and domestic arts and sciences was outlined.

The phases of industrial education outlined in that report have been demonstrated to be entirely feasible and valuable, both in regard to the scope and character indicated. Since that report was presented there has been an awakening and development of educational activity on industrial lines in many of the states. This activity has manifested itself in different forms of effort and has been applied at different points in the educational systems of the different states. A number of states have made instruction in the elements of agriculture mandatory in all the rural schools. Others have encouraged the introduction of such work in this class of schools by requiring teachers to make preparation for teaching the subject by making it one of the subjects of required examination for a certificate. In several states, industrial schools in which agriculture, some phases of the mechanic arts and domestic economy are taught have been established, and at the present time bills are pending before the legislatures in a number of states or have already become laws providing for the establishment of other schools of this class.

The history of these schools, wherever established, up to the present time, shows a steady increase in attendance and a marked advancement in public opinion thruout the rural communities as well as in urban communities as to their value. In practically every case where such schools have been established it has been under the authorization of state law, and state aid has been offered as an inducement for communities to take the initiative and bear a portion of the expense in the establishing and maintaining of such schools.

In a number of states, some township high schools, village high schools, and city high schools have introduced a short course of instruction in the elements of agriculture; but up to date this instruction has been almost entirely theoretical and textbook work. Wherever such work has been attempted in the consolidated schools it has been largely of the same character, and the same statement may be made with relation to its introduction in the rural schools.

This brief survey of the field indicates the points in the systems where

effort is now being expended for the development of industrial phases of education in rural communities.

While the committee believes that effort in each of these directions should be encouraged, stimulated, and wisely directed, it is of the opinion that the work should be pushed most vigorously along those lines which promise the greatest returns in the way of results, and that these results are to be considered from their immediate and prospective value to the pupils in the schools and also from their value in educating the public to an understanding and an appreciation of industrial education.

The history of agricultural education in this country shows that the line of least resistance and greatest progress has been downward from the agricultural college rather than upward from the rural school. The agricultural colleges thru their work in investigation and experiment and thru their organization and administration of courses of instruction, have developed a more or less extensive body of knowledge of practical value and available for purposes of instruction in schools of lower grades. They have discovered that comparatively few graduates from the agricultural college go back to the farm, but that their services are needed in lines of experimental work and investigation.

The next step in extending the results of their researches, was the organization of short courses which are now administered in connection with some of the agricultural colleges and which are open to boys who have completed the common school course. The formal establishment of a secondary school of agriculture with definite courses of instruction in connection with the agricultural college in Minnesota, the first experiment of this kind in the United States, has demonstrated the possibility of extending this work downward as entirely practicable. The young men and women who have completed the work in this school have gone back to the farms and carried with them and put into practice the knowledge and skill acquired in the school. They have become centers of influence in the communities in which they have continued their work, and wherever found, their influence is potent in the direction of a further extension of facilities similar to those they have enjoyed.

The graduates of the short course in agriculture in the Wisconsin Agricultural College, more than one thousand in number, have organized an association for carrying on experimental work under the direction and stimulation of the college authorities, and wherever they are found they are awakening an interest in their communities in the direction of increasing the facilities for industrial education for the country boys and girls. The establishment of county schools of agriculture and domestic economy in Wisconsin in 1900, followed by the establishment of similar schools in other states since then, and of the establishment of schools having the same purposes but making the congressional districts instead of the county the unit of organization, as in Alabama, Georgia, and Minnesota, has demonstrated the growth of public opinion as to the value and feasibility of industrial education.

The establishment of these secondary schools has aided materially in the better organization and adaptation of material for instruction in secondary schools and is rapidly organizing it in form to be available in the elementary schools. In this field much yet remains to be done. It must be done, however, by those who know the field and who are actively engaged in instructional work. Until very recently this work in the elementary and secondary fields of instruction has been so limited and so little in demand that little or no provision has been made for the systematic training of teachers for it. Such a demand has suddenly sprung into existence. Teachers adequately trained for this work are not obtainable. Provision must be made for meeting this demand.

Four classes of schools have been mentioned, in three of which a place is being demanded for some phases of industrial education. These three are the rural school with one or two teachers, the consolidated rural school with four or more teachers, and the existing high schools in villages and in the smaller cities. The fourth class of schools is distinctively industrial, in which academic work of the ordinary kind is rather an incident than the main feature, while the exact reverse is true in each of the other classes of schools.

It apparently needs but a statement of the conditions which obtain in the district schools or schools with less than three or four teachers, coupled with an understanding of the scope and character of those phases of industrial education which seem desirable for the country boy and girl, to convince anyone that it is an impossibility to so modify the course of instruction in this class of schools as to adequately meet the demands. With properly trained teachers, some very elementary industrial work can be undertaken beyond the naturestudy work which may be profitable, but which, however valuable it may be as a preparation for distinctively industrial education, is not industrial.

The committee believes that something may be done in these schools, in what is known as the elements of agriculture and that the most valuable work in that field, is that which informs pupils of methods, processes, and results which have been proved most satisfactory in farmwork; such methods, such processes, and such results as are within their comprehension and adapted to local conditions; and results such as can be secured in the community where the school is located. It is not the purpose of the committee to claim that such a mode of procedure is strictly pedagogical or scientific, but that it is justifiable because it will appeal to the parents of the children as practical and having a commercial value because of its availability for use in their community. Every development of such appreciation of schoolwork is a positive gain in an educational way. It will awaken an interest in and a demand for more extended work and for the organization of schools in which it can be given, and in time will result in extending the period of school life of the country children.

Some elementary and practical work in domestic economy may be given the girls with similar results. To successfully conduct the work either in the elements of agriculture or in domestic economy, the teachers must have special