TRAIN THE CHILD THROUGH HIS WORK BETTER COUNTRY SCHOOLS for MISSOURI MISSOURI'S FARM BOYS AND GIRLS Must Have A SQUARE DEAL YOU CAN'T MAKE MUCH OF A MAN UNLESS YOU BEGIN WITH THE BOY Deserves the Best BETTER COUNTRY SCHOOLS for MISSOURI IF YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING WORTH WHILE You Aliist Talk About It Write About It Fight For It UNTIL EVERYBODY IS SICK OF IT AND THEN KEEP TALKING, WRITING AND FIGHTING I NTIL YOU GET IT < i.l.yr:Khtt-d 191'.t riii>iisiii-(i lino i>y INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COIVIPANY " (Incorporated) AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENT P. G. Hold EN, Director HARVESTER BUILDING, CHICAGO AE44A-2-3-19 To the People of Missouri There is no greater problem in America today than the problem of reconstruction of education. We have made marvelous educational growth in Missouri in recent years, yet our country schools, as a class, do not measure up to the needs of today. If we are to keep the world safe for Democracy it must be through the medium of an intelligent citizenship in America. During the past school year, the average Missouri child was in school less than five months. The report of the survey made during the past year shows a condition which we, as Missourians, ought to realize and which we ought not to allow to exist in this State. The teaching of the public schools must be revised so that the right kind of training shall be given in both city and country. The child must be educated so that he can work with his hands as well as with his head. His heart must be trained and his health preserved. At the request of Governor F. D. Gardner, the State Superintendent of Public Schools, in co-operation with the Missouri State Teachers' Association and other educational agencies, made a survey of the one-room country schools of this State. Some of the results of the survey are given in this publication, which is prepared by the State Department of Public Schools in co-operation with the International Harvester Company. Great credit is due Mr. T. J. Walker, State Inspector of Rural Schools of Missouri, the County Superintendents of Schools and the teachers for their efficient help in assisting the State Department of Public Schools to create interest in planning a state-wide movement for the betterment of our country schools by advocating and teaching Vitalized .Agriculture, following the Rotation Plan. '**. • Very sincerely yours, UEL W. LAMKIN. State Superintendent. ©C1.A51465« Nov. 1. 1918. 4 MAR cL\ 1919 BOOKS ARE DEAD FACTS THE COUNTRY SCHOOL OUR BIGGEST PROBLEM TRAINS HALF OUR BOYS AND GIRLS DOES IMOT FIT FOR COUNTRY LIFE DOES WOT DEAL WITH COUIMTRY PROBLEMS FACES THE CHILD AWAY FROW THE FARM WO WOWDER THE COUWTRY SCHOOL HAS BEEW WEGLECTED HAS MADE LITTLE PROGRESS WE DOIMT NEED TO HAVE POOR COUNTRY SCHOOLS WE MAY THIWK WE DO BUT WE DOWT The Country School Our Biggest Problem IT trains one-half our boys and girls. Half our population receive •*■ here their training for life. The country schools do not meet country needs; but in the city schools we find courses of study in bookkeeping, stenography, business law, courses that train in industries, shop work, carpentry, sewing, cooking and those things which train for life's work. The country school does not train for country life, does not deal with country problems; in fact, the country school faces the child directly away from the farm. Books, dead facts, dates, words, dry as dust, having no bearing on the vital interests of country life — these constitute the greater part of the country child's school work. The country school has been neglected by those who should be its best friends. Parents who dwell in the country turn away from it to 6 THE COUNTRY SCHOOL HAS BEEN NEGLECTED the city schools. The leading educators of America have sold their services to the highest bidders, the city school boards; and as a result the best trained minds of the nation have devoted their attention to the city schools, leaving to the country only those who could not command the patronage of city schools, or those who were willing to make personal sacrifices to teach in the country schools. Country schools have been neglected by class room teachers in the same way. They have been made a convenience, a place to try out young teachers. When a teacher makes good in the country and shows real ability, the city picks her up and leaves the country school to take its chance with other young, poorly prepared, untried beginners. If she fails in the country school she knows that over in another community there is a school board who may hire her, so she becomes a "tramp teacher," drifting here and there, without a permanent abiding place and therefore without personal interest in any given community. Legislators have passed up the country school as a thing of small importance. "It has many flatterers, but few friends." Little progress has been made in the rural schools. It has been said that should a Rip Van Winkle wake up in a modern barn he would realize that he had slept 150 years; but should his waking take place in the average Missouri rural school he would turn over to finish his nap. To bring about improvement in Missouri's rural schools, there must be agitation, education and determination. The people must be stimulated to want better rural schools and to be willing to pay for them. No one will doubt that the rural schools of Missouri have made advancement, but the progress on the whole has been so slow that when compared with other things about us they appear to have gone backward. There are a few wonderful and inspiring illustrations of what rural schools have done, under good leadership, to reorganize and vitalize the life of a whole community. But these are mere instances. The facts are that the rural school situation in Missouri, as well as in every other state, is far from what it ought to be, and often is bad— bad beyond description. Certainly we are all agreed that the country school house, out build- ings, surroundings, the school equipment, decoration, light, water, heat- ing, and sanitation are not only far from perfect, but, on the whole, are wretchedly bad. The teacher ought to be a part of the life of the community; but she is not. Often she is city raised and city taught with little or no interest in the affairs of the community. Frequently she goes out to her school Monday mornings and back to town on Friday nights or out each morning and back at night. LIFE IS MADE UP OF REAL PROBLEMS The children should be taught in terms of home problems and home- making. At present the rural school exerts little influence on the social or business life of the community, schools being regarded as something apart from real life. We all know how eagerly the child starts to school, how anxious he is to learn, and we all know that somewhere between the first and the sixth grades, sometimes as early as in the fourth grade, he loses this enthusiasm. What is the reason? Why does all the enthusiasm, the desire, the interest dwindle until it requires coaxing, bribing, scolding, and even the threatening of compulsory education laws to keep the pupil in school until he reaches his fourteenth year? Why? Because he sees no connection between what we are teach- ing him at school and the life around him. Life is made up of problems. The boy wants to begin to work out some of the problems which come up in his every day life. He wants to get started on his life's work. He wants to get busy. Give the boy real things to do. Let him begin to solve real prob- lems, let him learn how to manage, how to rotate crops to produce enough to pay the rent or the interest on his investment. Let the girl learn how to keep house, cook, manage the affairs of the home. If the school work is of the right character, and the school is under the guidance of a capable teacher, there will be real interest taken in the school work. We donl need to have poor schools. The rural school can be the real life of the community, and will be some day. But that "some day" will depend upon you — not someone else — but you. If you are going to do anything per- manent for the average man, you must begin before he is a man. The chance of success lies in working with the boy, and not with the man. — Theodore Roosevelt. MISSOURI RANKS THIRTY-SECOND MISSOURI RANKS 32ND IN EDUCATIOIM V» m WEALTH 5™ IN AGRICULTURE 2ND iig MULES 3"° IN HOGS AND CORN I ST IN POULTRY I ST IN PURE BRED STOCK |ST IN LEAD AND ZINC BUT aZ^MIM EDUCATIOIM AIi"'iurl ( 'i i:iiiiii-.-i')ti:ita from Kural iSchuo! iSurvey. Missouri Does Not Give Her Country Boys and Girls a Square Deal (Continued) L^OR buildings, grounds, and equipment for the convenience and com- ■■• fort of the children, the city is spending $125 per child per year, while the people in the country contribute $25 per child per year, for the same purpose for the country school. Why this great difference? Is it because the country boy and girl are not entitled to the same conveniences, comforts, and educational advantages that are given to the city boy and girl? And as to the school tax levy, that which we vote to give our home school support, the city pays $1.20 for every $100 assessed valuation of property. The tax levy in the country for the support of the country schools is only 60 cents for each $100 of property valuation. IS THIS A SQUARE DEAL? 17 Would that some Almighty power could look deep into the hearts of men and there read the motives that prompt the fathers in the cities to be twice as liberal in the matter of taxation for their children as the fathers who live in the country. One father says: "I am willing to give 60 cents out of every $100 assessed valuation for my boy's educa- tion." The other father says: "I will pay $1.20 out of each $100." And what is the result? In reading, writing, arithmetic, and spell- ing the country child is from one to four years behind. Only one-third as many children finish the 8th grade in the country as do the children in the city. Wasted money, wasted time, wasted life. And this is not all. (See page 18.) Compare These School Houses With Those on Page Thirteen "Deer Park" country school. Boone County, eight miles southeast of Columbia. Teacher: Miss Laura Haden, Columbia, Missouri. Burns School, La Fayette County: A rural school that makes chil dren and people proud of themselves. 18 IMPROVE HEALTH CONDITIONS MISSOURI HAS 9000 COUNTRY SCHOOL HOUSES 2700 WITH OPEN FOUfMDATIOIMS 4500 WITH STOVES ll\l CENTER OF ROOM 4500 WITH STOVES MOT JACKETED 8000 POORLY VENTILATED 3000 WITHOUT WINDOW SHADES 1000 WITH SEATS FACING WINDOWS 5500 WITH SEATS TOO Hi' OR TOO LOW 1000 WITHOUT ANY TOILETS 6000 WITH TOILETS UNCLEANED 1800 WITHOUT DRINKING WATER 6300 WELLS NOT CLEANED 1600 WELLS WITH IMPURE WATER THESE ARE YOUR CHILDREIMS HOMES 6 HRS A DAY 8 MOS A YR FOR 10 YEARS D.itJi Iro.ii llural Schu.*! .Survi'i'. Missouri Has 9000 Country School Houses HERE are some of the results of the Missouri country school survey: Of the 9,000 country schools in Missouri there are 2,700 with open foundations, making uniform heating impossible. This means that the feet of the children and of the teacher are within one inch of the outside temperature. The floor of the school room is cold. The chil- dren's feet are cold. To say nothing of the discomfort and danger to the health of the child, good mental work is impossible if the feet are cold. Four thousand, five hundred have stoves in the center of the room — universally known to be the worst possible place for a stove. Four thousand, five hundred have stoves not jacketed. Those around the stove are too warm while those away from it are suffering from I he SCREFN OUT THE DEADLY FLY 19 cold. The result is confusion among the children — moving to and from the stove. There are 8,000 poorly ventilated schools in Missouri. Why deny the children fresh air? Deprived of oxygen the child becomes dull and drowsy, his faculties are numbed and the result is poor work. Why "chloroform" the children with poor air? Provision should be made for proper ventilation in every country school in Missouri. There are 3,000 country schools without window shades; 1,000 with seats facing the lights. Putting out the eyes of people is a relic of bar- barism long since forgotten, yet we are allowing conditions to exist in our country schools which are each year impairing the eyesight of thou- sands of children. It is as criminal in this age of so-called enlightenment to destroy the eyesight of children by carelessness and ignorance, as it was in ancient times to destroy their eyes because of superstition and of savagery. And think of the bareness of it — think of a home without shades. Five thousand, five hundred schools have seats either too high or too low. This condition in many cases will produce deformity, sunken chests, curvature of the spine, stooped shoulders, etc. Circulation is. hindered and the child is predisposed to disease because of it. There are 1 ,600 country schools with wells containing water not fit to drink, 6,300 without cleaned wells and 1 ,800 without drinking water of any kind on the grounds or near the schools. Out of 9,000 schools we find 1,000 without toilets and 6,000 with toilets uncleaned. These unsanitary conditions make breeding places for germs of disease. Flies that are hatched in these cesspools of filth come into the school houses when school opens and there partake of the children's lunches and distribute germs of filth and disease. Wherever flies are found you may rest assured filth is close by, and filthy places are dangerous to health. We are ashamed to tolerate a bedbug or body louse. One fly is more loathsome and dangerous than a hundred bedbugs or body lice. The habits of the fly make it an almost ideal carrier of disease. It is the filthiest of all insects. It is born in filth, lives on filth, carries filth, and deposits filth on our food. Any filthy, disgusting substance is always swarming with flies. Watch the fly hatching in the manure heap, and then see it walk in slop and garbage, wallow in the disease-laden privy vault, then wing its way to the school room, where, entering through unscreened window or door, it proceeds to spread disease among the children. 20 SCREEN PORCHES, DOORS AND WINDOWS You don't need to have flies. Make all privies fly-proof by screen- ing, and cover their contents regularly with copperas or iron sulphate to keep down odors, and prevent the development of fly maggots. Darken the vault — flies avoid dark places. Screen porches, doors, and windows of school house. Mothers, do not forget that this country school room is the home of your boys and girls for eight months of every year for 10 years, at a time in their lives when they are young and most susceptible to the influences of their surroundings. Do you for one minute expect the best in the way of health and future achievement under the conditions now existing in more than one-half of Missouri's country schools? Of course you do not! And you must realize that there is but one way to right the wrong — organize, get behind the movement for better country schools; in other words — get together, work together, serve together. Create a Missouri sentiment for better things pointing to the best edu- cational advantages possible for the country boy and girl. Don't wait for your neighbor to start something — get busy, start with a deter- mination to do something worth while and in the name of Heaven and humanity and the future well-being of Missouri — carry it out. The hogs are more comfortable under the floor of this school than the children are above it. \ l^"'^^4f^ t ^^BtoeT? ^ i-.'^- ^ iili^^Hirilll3BHIIHi Hi ■i m Nodaway County's Best. WHY THIS DIFFERENCE? 21 WHY THIS DIFFERENCE WEGRo V\\5 SCHoo/ COUNTRY BOY, OOL WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT T. J. Walkur. Why This Difference? TAKE note of the upper part of this chart! On the left is a city negro boy's home. The picture on the right is the negro boy's school! It is a high school with every modern convenience. It has plenty of light and is well heated. It has clean toilets and is sanitary throughout. There is a playground and a workshop. The boys learn carpentering and the girls are taught to cook and sew. They even get free medical attention.. The teachers are well paid. But study the lower part of the chart and see the difference in the life of the country boy! On the left is the country boy's hom.e. It is neat and clean and warm. The country' boy leaves this comfortable home to spend most of his 22 DAD AND MA^READ THIS day in the school at the right. It is a typical country school — poorly lighted, poorly ventilated, with an unjacketed itove and dirty well- water. The inside of the school looks as bad as the outside. The desks are all the same size — but the children are not. The room is barren and untidy. There is nothing for the children to work with. They are uncomfortable, as the general appearance cf the school will indicate. Now — to which one of these schools would you prefer to send your boy? Don't you think the country boy should have the sam.e opportunity for education as the city boy? Isn't he worth as much to his parents as the city boy? Do you think he is getting a square deal? You can have whatever kind of a school you wish for your children. You are responsible to them. Give them a chance. They will do the rest, and you will be proud of them. Let Boys and Girls Help Plan Farm Work IN PLANNING our farm work for next year we should consult mother and the children. If we take the family into our confidence v/e will find that they will help us solve m.any cf our farm problems. Often the boys are able to give Dad some ideas of how to get more money cut cf the eld farm, and we will be surprised at the way mother and the girls can help plan the work ef the farm and the household so that there will be full co-operation among all members of the family. Let the boys and girls feel that they have an irterest in the farm — that they are not working simply for their "keep." When they feel that they have responsibility, that the success of the farm depends upon them as well as upon "Dad" and "Ma," they will put fcrth their best efforts. Co-partnership in the management and operation of the farm will instill within them the pride of ownership; will teach them to think fcr themselves, to observe, to study out the why and wherefore, and to ex- periment under intelligent guidance. See that your children own something — a calf, a pig, cr a lamb. Let the ownership be permanent, not temporary; real, not imaginary. Don't let it be Willie's pig, and Dad's hog. Let it be Willie's hog and give him the price of the hog when it is sold. This will give motive to his work, stimulate his interest, develop initiative, train him in terms of business. Co-partnership in field and home management, responsibility, own- ership — these will keep the boys and girls on the farm; will make them alert, thoughtful, energetic, successful men and women. DON'T BELITTLE THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 23 THE LITTLE MESS OF THE COUNTRY SCHOOL LITTLE DISTRICT LITTLE VALUATIOW LITTLE LEVY LITTLE SCHOOL HOUSE LITTLE SCHOOL GROUND LITTLE TERM LITTLE ATTENDAIMCE LITTLE TEACHER LITTLE SALARY LITTLE CHILDREN TAUGHT LITTLE THINGS IN A LITTLE WAY WE HAVE BELITTLED THE BIGGEST JOB IN MISSO URI T. .1. W :.lk. Littleness of the Country School WE say the country school is little — a small proposition. It is. It is little because it is made so by neglect, by failure on the part of the people to support it. It is just as small as our narrow-minded, stingy, begrudging policies have made it. In reality the country school problem is the most important problem in America today. Here are some of the things which contribute to the deplorable con- dition of the country schools of Missouri: The average country school district in Missouri contains less than six square miles, and many of the districts are smaller. The average property valuation in each district is about $90,000. Some district valuations are less than $10,000. The average school tax levy for all purposes, buildings and maintenance is only 60 cents on each $100 24 DO NOT BELITTLE THE COUNTRY SCHOOL taxable property. Some districts are without any school tax levy and many are below 40 cents on each $100 of taxable property. The schoolhouses are small, on the average about 20x30 feet, most of them poorly constructed, some of them mere shacks. One acre is the average size of the playground. The average length of school term of the country school is less than seven months. There are 2,179 country schools in Missouri with an average daily attendance of less than 15 pupils. There are 57 schools having less than four months' terms of school, and 631 schools having less than six months of school. There are 424 country teachers receiving less than $200 a year salary; 2,400 country teachers getting less than $300 a year. Imagine $300 a year for a teacher to train our boys and girls when stenographers, after six months' training in a business college, enter positions guaranteed to them on graduation, at $65 to $75 per month! There are over 2,400 country teachers with no high school training; 4,000 who have had only one year of high school training or less. These are some of the conditions which belittle the country school. The people of Missouri are belittling the biggest and most important job in Missouri. Orange Township Rural School, Black Hawk County, Iowa. Right out in the country. There are many other country communities where country boys and girls can have like opportunities. WHAT IS YOUR BOY WORTH? 25 MY BOY IS WORTH MORE THAM HORSES AMD CATTLE AND LAfMDS tEYES $4,000 EARS 4,000 ARMS 2.000 HAMDS 1.000 LEGS 2.000 $13,000 VALUE OF MISSOURI'S BOYS AND GIRLS 13.000X400,000= $5,200,000,000 VALUE OF MISSOURI'S TAX'BL C'IMTRY PROPTY $880,000,000 OUR BOYS AND GIRLS MISSOURi'S GREATEST ASSET What Is My Boy Worth? DID you ever stop to figure up the investment ycu have in that boy of yours? Study the Chart shown above. Every boy has two eyes that according to the table cf accident insurance are worth $2, CCO apiece; two ears worth as much as his eyes; two hands worth a thousand dollars, and two arms and two legs worth $4,000. Missouri's 400,000 boys and girls are worth according to these figures $5,200,000,000, as against $880,000,000 for Missouri's taxable property. If your boy has good health, ambition, perseverance, and determina- tion to do something worth while in the world he is beyond all price. Missouri — What are you doing to get the best out of your boys? Are you helping them to start right? Are you preparing them to fit into the world's work? Are you training them for citizenship? Think it over. 25 A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE CHILD- THIS DYNAMO OF NERVES OF MUSCLES OF ENERGY WE SEND HIM TO SCHOOL WHEW SIX YEARS OF AGE PUT HIM IN A SEAT FOR SIX LO(\IG HOURS HE CAN'T LOOK OUT THE WINDOW WHISPER OR TALK MOVE HIS HANDS OR HIS FEET MAKE PICTURES OR LAUGH MAKE A NOISE OR BE NATURAL JUST WORDS WORDS WORDS FROM THE PAGES OF A BOOK A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY A Crime Against Humanity TN the next few years the present method cf teaching will be con- •*• sidered a crime. It is no less a crime today, but we do not realize it because the method has been handed down to us through many genera- tions, and we have comiC to believe it is the right way to teach the child. Why should children at the period of their greatest activity be compelled to sit cramped in their seats six hours a day? At this age they are veritable dynamos of nerves, muscles, and energy. Can they whisper? No! Look out the window? No! Use their hands and feet? No! Can they do anything natural? No! They must sit still and keep "mum" except when called upon to recite their lessons which they have learned from the pages of a book. Grown people cannot and will not stand such treatment. If we who are naturally quiet because of our mature ages, find it difficult to sit still even for one hour, how can we expect children to sit still for six hours a day — day after day and month after month, in fact during the HIS FACE IN A BOCK 27 entire period of their school work; until they are young ir.en and women? These cartoons are not mere jokes — they are tragedies! And tragedies for which the teacher is not wholly to blame. She simply fell heir to a system. She is living up to her ideal of "keeping order." She is doing what is expected of her. In fact she might lose her job if she did otherwise. The system must be changed. In fact, we are now rapidly changing it. Already, especially in our manual training and domestic science classes, considerable advancement has been made. Agricultural work, if properly taught, will help to bring about better methods. The School Room Tragedy 28 BOTH A JOKE AND A TRAGEDY Just Couldn't Sit Still— Kicked His Neighbor MORE WORDS, WORDS, WORDS 29 A Love Scene SOME of our greatest educators are beginning to realize that there is as much development, training, and culture in the study of a BEET ROOT, as there is in the study of a GREEK ROOT 30 MAN'S BOOK AND NATURE'S BOOK The Wrong Way and the Right Way Children Like to Deal With Real Problems— Such as the Testing of Seed Corn and Things Which Deal With the Home Life THE ROTATION PLAN A SUCCESS 31 HOW MISSOURI IS MAKING HER COUNTRY SCHOOLS WORTH WHILE BY TEACHING IN TERMS OF FARM LIFE BY ROTATING THE SUBJECTS |ST YEAR CROPS 2W0YEAR MAKING THINGS 3RD YEAR LIVESTOCK 4THYEAR SOIL AND HOME BY MAKING A RURAL SCHOOL SURVEY BY CONDUCTING STATE WIDE CAMPAIGN FOR BETTER SCHOOLS THE WHOLE STATE IS BACK OF IT MISSOURI HAS STARTED A MOVEMENT THAT WILL GO ROUND THE WORLD What Missouri is Doing The Missouri Plan is: 1. Teaching in terms of the lives of the people. The study of problems connected with the home — the testing of seed corn, canning of foods, home making, health problems, and right living. 2. The adoption of the Rotation Plan in teaching so that there is a new line of work each year. The first year, crops or growing things; the second year, making things; the third year, animal life; the fourth year, soils and home. Teaching in terms of life embraces not only subjects directly per- taining to farming, but also to everything that concerns the life and welfare of the children and the people of the community— health, sanita- tion, home conveniences, social conditions, and community interests. 32 TEACH THINGS, NOT SUBJECTS Rotation Plan Gives Pupils More Agriculture The Rotation Plan enables the teacher to give the pupils more agriculture. This is true even though they are actually members of the agricultural class only one year. We must remember that in the district schools, the pupils in the lower grades know what is taught in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, and take part at school, and especially at home, in helping their older brothers and sisters with the work. How to Vitalize the Teaching of Agriculture in the Rural Schools Rotate the Subjects OUR country schools will not be a real success so long as we teach exactly the same things over and over and over again year after year. Neither will they be a success, if in our attempt to popularize the subject, we skim all the interesting things the first year or two, leaving nothing crisp and fresh and new for the teachers who follow. Let us Rotate the subjects, thus having something new and live each year. The following indicates how it can be done — in fact, how it is actually being done in Missouri: 1st Year. GROWING THINGS— Farm Crops; How Seeds Grow; Depth to Plant; Corn; Oats; Alfalfa; Weeds; Gardens; Canning. 2nd Year. MAKING THINGS— Rope Knots; Splicing Rope; Fly Traps and Screens; Cement Tanks, Steps, and Posts; Farm Tools and Machines; Home Conveniences; Removing Stains; Sewing. 3rd Year. LIVE THINGS — Animals; Poultry; Birds; Insects; Cooking. 4th Year. SOIL AND HOME— Soil Fertility; Cultivation; Moisture; Sanitation; Beautifying the Home; Social and Community Work. When the four years' work is finished, start in again with the first year's work. By this time the older pupils have graduated and the work will be new again to both teacher and pupils. Rotation of subjects gives the pupils more agriculture, keeps the work live and real and vital, and makes it easier for the county super- intendent, who usually has little or no help in rural supervision. He can train his teachers for one line of work, while it is very difficult to train them for all lines of work. DO NOTHING AND YOU'LL GET NOTHING 3'. THESE THINGS ARE COMING FOR OUR FARM BOYS AND GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL ADVANTAGES IM THE COUMTRY TEACHERS TRAINED TO TEACH ll\l THE COUNTRY TEACHERS EMPLOYED FOR 12 MONTHS INSTRUCTION THE YEAR ROUND TRAINING THE CHILD THRU HIS WORK A HOME FOR THE TEACHER IN THE COMMUNITY EQUAL SCHOOL ADVANTAGES EQUAL EDUCATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES ARE THE CHILDREN WORTH IT IF NOT SAY NOTHING DO NOTHING AND you'll get NOTHING These Things Are Coming THE war will help to make a new America, Great changes are coming in customs of living, in industrial activities, in educational methods and opportunities. Some changes will approach radical reforms; but they are coming — not only in Missouri but everywhere. These better things, however, will not be thrust upon us; they will come because of a keener realization of our obligations of citizen- ship, because of our broader vision of things, and finally as a reward of our labor. The shack school house must go. The country high school will come; teachers will be trained to teach country boys and girls in terms of country life; the school term will be longer — teachers will be employed for the whole year (12 months), and live in a teachers' cottage in the community provided by the school district. This does not mean that there will be a 12 months' term of school, but it does mean that at the close of the school term, the teacher will remain in the community and carry her influence into the homes of the children, training them in things which concern their home problems. The state school tax will be equalized. The city, town and country will all pay an equal share for these better things. The country boys and girls will have decent educational advan- tages, a real high school right out in the country in the midst of their homes. Are the boys and girls worth it? If not, say nothing, do nothing and you'll get nothing. 34 GET TOGETHER— WORK TOGETHER WE DOWY NEED TO HAVE POOR COUNTRY SCHOOLS WE CAN PROVIDE PURE WATER DECEAIT OUT HOUSES A JACKETED STOVE A WORK SHOP WE CAN CLEAN UP PAINT UP FIX UP HIRE A GOOD TEACHER PAY A DECENT SALARY TEACH REAL THINGS ORGANIZE A COUNTRY SCHOOL COUNCIL You Don't Need to Have Poor Country Schools T^ATHERS and Mothers, observe this chart! Study it! Remember •*• it! Follow it in word and action. Do not forget that the country school is the home of your boys and girls for about eight months of each year — and for eight or 20 years of their young lives. Make it a fit place for them to live in and to learn in. You can organize a community council, get together and work for better things in the home and the school. You don't need to have poor country schools. The country school will be just what you make it, and no more. If you want it to be a credit to the community, get busy. PEOPLE MUST HAVE VISION You can provide pure water by digging a new well or cleaning out the old one. You can provide decent outhouses, a jacketed stove, and a workshop where children can learn by doing real things. You can clean up, paint up, fix up; hire a better teacher and pay her a decent salary. You can have window shades, and pictures on the walls; plenty of dry wood, and a good stove; clock, broom, maps, waste basket, shelves for lunch baskets and a store room. You can have com- fortable seats and a good blackboard. You can visit the school and see that your boys and girls take an interest in their school work. You can hold meetings, forget prejudices and jealousies and work together for the well-being of the whole community. Wherever you find poor live stock, fences that are falling down, barns and houses that need painting and repairing, and poor school houses, you are sure to find scrub people. You are judged by what you have about you; by the quality of your live stock; by the general appear- ance of your home. If you employ scrub methods of education, you will have scrub boys and girls who will grow into scrub men and women, a discredit to you, a disappointment to themselves, a disgrace to the nation. Where There Is No Vision the People Perish SELF-SATISFACTION and contentment with present conditions is a most dangerous factor in the life of an individual, a community, a state, or a nation. No great thing has ever been done without a vision. It has been well said that there exist in every community the forces and the ability to solve that community's prob- lems. They may be and frequently are undeveloped, but they are none the less there. These forces must be sought out, stimulated, trained, and developed, and then applied to problems of the community. H EAVEN itself cannot help you if you have no desire to help yourself. 36 BOTH IGNORANT— NEITHER EDUCATED BOTH IGNORANT NEITHER EDUCATED ONE SCHOOLED THE OTHER SKILLED VISIONARY THEORETICAL IMPRACTICAL HELPLESS SLAVE TO BOOKS HAS NO VISION NARROW LIMITED >^ INTO OUTLOOK SLAVE TO HIS J TOOLS KNOWS A LOT d/ W6R!(S A LOT , BUT , , BUT CANT DO NOTHIN DONT KNOW NOTHIN THE EDUCATED MAN IS OWE WHO CAN HOLD THE VISION AND USE THE TOOL Both Ignorant \ 7ISI0N comes not from work alone, nor from books and words alone, ^ but through a combination of the two. The highest type of citizen can be produced only as he is trained through his life's work. After all, the whole object and purpose of education is to make a great human being capable of performing all the duties efficiently that come to him as a citizen. Remember, the primary purpose is not to create a man who can grow more corn and raise more pigs — with emphasis on the corn and pigs; the object is first to make useful men and women and as a result there will be greater production. The emphasis should be placed on the man, not on his work, nor on the product of his labor. We must not lose the vision when we grasp the tool, for the educated man is the one who can hold the vision and use the tool. One danger is that we will forget the man and emphasize the job. It is the opinion of many people that education is a matter of putting a man on to his job. This is absolutely wrong. BOOKS A^E TOOLS 37 The pickpocket is on to his job. The horse thief is on to his job. The burglar is on to his job. Germany was on to her job — in making submarines, powder, bullets and gas bombs, but behind it all there was the wrong principle. It is not enough to just be on to the job — moral, social and civic duties are essential to good citizenship. Nor is it enough to just read books; for he who reads and reads, and reads and does not, is like he who plows and plows, and plows and sows not. The figure on the left of the chart on page 36 is an example of a man who has not learned to think in terms of what he can do. He has been schooled in terms of words. His teacher's idea of education was like that of the Missionary in India, who one day gave three native boys this lesson: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." He told the boys that when they had learned this lesson to report to him. Sometime afterwards he met one of the boys who had been in the class and asked him why he had not reported. The boy said, "I have not yet learned the lesson." The missionary was surprised. "Why," he replied, "the lesson is not difficult," and he repeated: "Whatsoever ye would," etc., but the boy interrupted. "0 yes, yes, me can say it but me can't do it yet." A man may have talent, culture and schooling, have a master's degree, yet be unable to make a living. Education is that training which fits for the duties of life — all the duties — development of mind and muscle, training for citizenship, for home-making, for parenthood, for social and economic duties. Education is derived from all our surroundings and experiences and can not be limited by any set term of years, nor any place nor system. It is a progression all through life. There is one great principle: If we are to help the world and humanity, we must help through the things that concern all the people — through the things that they give the world; their days and years of toil and labor. The boy who has raised a calf or a pig has learned some of the principles of feeding, and this with the profit he received made the work amount to something. Work — real problems — develops strength, s^lf- confidence and ability. Work makes better citizens physically, spirit- ually, morally, intellectually, economically. 38 EDUCATION PAYS HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION PAYS YEARLY IfMCOI^E HIGH SCHOOL TRAI(\III\IG AGE NO H. S. TRAINING IN HIGH SCHOOL 14 I $200 IN HIGH SCHOOL 16 ■ 250 S500 ^ 18 ■ 350 750 ^H 20 ■i 470 1.000 w^m £2 ■■ 575 1,150 ^HB 24 ^m 600 1,550 i^^^m 25 ^■688 $7,337 TOTAL S5.II2 H. SCHOOL TRAIIMED BOYS-WAGES $3.50 PER DAY WO H. SCHOOL TRAI(\IIWG-WAGES «l.50 PER DAY Education Does Fay OTUDY the Chart on this page. It proves that Education Does Pay. *^ Notice that at 25 years of age the boys with a high school training were receiving $862 per year more salary, and have already, in seven years, received $2,225 more money than the boys received who left high school at 14 years and have been working for 1 1 years. Uneducated laborers earn on the average $500 per year for 40 years, a total of $20,000. High school graduates earn on the average $1,000 per year for 40 years, a total of $40,000. EDUCATION INCREASES PRODUCTIVE POWER 39 The Dividends From Education (From "The Etude" Magazine) President A. W. Van Hoose, of Shorter College, Georgia, gives the following facts relating to the value of education: 1. Education Increases Productive Power. Proof: Massachusetts gives her citizens 7 years of schooling; the United States gives its citizens 4.4 years of schooling; Tennessee gives her citizens 3 years of schooling. Results: Massachusetts citizens produce an average of $260 per capita per year; citizens of the United States produce an average of $170 per year per capita; citizens of Tennessee produce an average of $116 per year per capita. 2. Education Helps Men to Perform Distinguished Service. Proof: With no schooling, of five million men only 31 attained distinction; v/ith elementary schooling, of 33 million, 808 attained distinction; with high school education: of two million, 1,245 attained distinction; with college education: of one million, 5,768 attained dis- tinction. Conclusion: The child with no schooling has one chance in 150,000 cf rendering distinguished service. The child with elementary education has four times this chance; The child with high school education has 87 times this chance. The young man or woman with college education has 800 times this chance. Will you. High School Graduate, multiply your present efficiency nearly 10 times by getting for yourself the very best college education possible? Decide at once that you will. 3. Education and Statesmanship. Fact: Less than one per cent of Americans are college graduates, but this one per cent has furnished: Fifty-five per cent of cur Presidents; 36 per cent of our Members of Congress; 47 per cent of the Speakers of the House; 54 per cent of the Vice-Presidents; 62 per cent of the Secretaries of State; 67 per cent of the A^ttorneys-General; 69 per cent of the Judges of the Supreme Court. 4. Every Day Spent in School Pays the Child Nine Dollars. Every day cpent in college pays the young man or woman $55.54. Proof: Illiterate laborers earn an average of $500 per year; in 40 years they would earn $20,000; high school graduates earn an average of $1,000 per year; in 40 years they would earn $40,000; college graduates earn an average of $2,000 per year; in 40 years they would earn $80,000. 40 EDUCATION INCREASES EARNING POWER To get the high school education required 12 years of school, or 2,160 days in school. This time spent in school added to the income of the high school graduate $20,000. Divide $20,000 by 2. 1 60 and we have $9.26 as the amount that every day spent in the grammar and high school was worth to the high school graduate. But look a little further: While the average amount earned by the high school graduate in an active life of forty years is $40,000, the amount earned in the same time by the college graduate is $80,000. He, therefore, adds $40,000 to his life's income by reason of the four years, or 720 days, that he spent in college, the college year being 180 days. Now, if we will divide $40,000 by 720, we will have $55.55, the amount that every day in college is worth to a man or woman. Survey of Other States Would Show Like Conditions m EADER, just because you live in some other state do not assume that your rural schools are very much different than those in Missouri. If your state made a survey of its schools it would show about the same difference between the educational oppor- tunities in the cities and in the country as exists in Missouri. Missouri has made a state-wide survey. She has found out what the matter is with her rural schools. She has gone farther. She has taken steps to improve her schools — to give her country boys and girls a square deal. Other states should follow. Missouri has faced the situation squarely — is solving the problem. She has started something — is getting results. Read the following pages and see for yourself what Vitalizing the Teaching of Agriculture has done for Missouri. Note the results obtained and decide whether or not the children of your state are as interested — as eager to learn — as able to do things — as those of Missouri. What Missouri Teachers, County Superin- tendents, Patrons and Children Say About Vitalized Agriculture and The Rotation Plan of Teaching The children are much more interested in this year's work than they were in last year's. They come to school early — Oh, so early. They work all noon and recesses, stay after school if I'll let them work. They donated tools. Getting them was no task at all. We have had fine training in putting everything in its place at four o'clock. The children enjoyed the composition immensely. And one thing is accomplished in this line which I never before got from my pupils in a composition either in high school or grade work. It is this: They are absolutely themselves. They enjoyed reading them so much that you would have thought they were playing school sure enough. Three fathers have said: "When you teach the children how to splice rope, let me know. I want to come over and learn." Most of the sewing I teach will be included in Junior Red Cross work, in which I can teach the fundamentals.^Mrs. F. D. Goodwin, teacher. Green Ridge, Mo. I have introduced the Rotation Plan for teaching Agriculture and it certainly has been a success. The parents are interested and are anxious to help their children. The work has formed a basis for many problems in arithmetic and for subjects for composition. — Dorsey Griffy, teacher, Lathrop, Mo. One thing I wish to mention is the fact that before this year the boys were very destructive to the school apparatus, but Vitalized Agri- culture put new life into their systems and it's different this year. School closes April I9th. Every one of the pupils has said: "I am so sorry." The parents report that this as the first time their children have ever been sorry when school closed. — Tracy Blevins, teacher. Mound City, Mo. We have made a nail box, book rack, and a chart. My pupils are delighted with the "Making Things" year and want to work at it all the time because, as they say: "It's doing things." The class sends this message: "Wish you could see our chart. It is perfect, and our nail box holds water. "^Belle Horn, teacher, Howell County, Moo 42 CHILDREN LIKE AGRICULTURE I must say that I am sorry to think that our carpentry period has closed, for I just loved to hear the tap-tap of the nammers and the whiz of the saw. — Ruth Brewster, teacher, Howell County, Mo. Vitalized Agriculture is all that we hoped it would be, and more. We have proof of our success by our rank of 1st at the Blackwater Township Fair held November 8th, 9th and 1 0th. There are six schools in the township, who competed at the Fair. Our school was the only one in the township carrying the course in Vitalized Agriculture as outlined by Prof. Holden, and we felt that our success in winning first place was due largely to our Agriculture. The children were better able to judge corn, wheat and oats, show the evil effects of corn root worms, and do many other things about which many inquiries were made by patrons of other schools. Needless to say, the parents of our pupils were very proud. — Helen Morris, teacher, Pettis County, Mo. We find the work of the Second Year Rotation Plan of extreme interest. The pupils are always eager for class time and often spend portions of the noon hour upon their work. The patrons are much interested in seeing this new work tried out. Many parents have fur- nished extra tools and a few have bought the smaller tools for their children. One farmer provided us with a bench. The Lumber Company has taken quite an interest in our work and has spoken of it in compli- mentary terms. Letter writing, language work, arithmetic, etc., have a new interest when in connection with agriculture. — Betty Shaw, teacher, Rinehart, Mo. I opened school the last Monday in August and presented the Vitalized Agriculture work. The first thing the boys made was a strong work bench. We organized, and each contributed to a fund to purchase the neces- sary tools, and made a notebook. The first article made was a nail box. The children drew a picture of their schoolhouse and wrote a composition of their organization. After finishing the nail box, they made a drawing of it and wrote about it, all of which was put in their notebooks. Mr. Johnson, Audrain County Superintendent, said the books are "a thing of beauty." — Mrs. Eva Neumann, teacher, Mexico, Mo. Vitalized Agriculture has put a new, interesting, and vital phase on school teaching for me, as it has not only put life into the agriculture, but CHILDREN LOVE TO DO THINGS 43 it has also vitalized the arithmetic, the language, the writing, the draw- ing, and the geography. Vitalized Agriculture to the boys and girls in my school has meant Vitalized School, for the children would not miss school unless they were sick because they were afraid they would miss something in agri- culture. They were always willing to bring things from home whenever we needed them. One of the greatest results and most patriotic results that the Vital- ized Agriculture has accomplished in our district is that almost all the farmers are testing at least part of their seed corn, and this is practically the first time that any of them has tested any seed corn. Vitalized Agriculture has awakened our community to the fact that they and their school have a wonderful opportunity to help put forth in this great country of ours a forward movement in education; that is, teaching in terms of the lives of the people and the community. — Dorothy Kurtz, teacher, Holt County, Mo. We certainly are not lacking in interest this year. The children have done unusually good work, not only in "making things" but in their other subjects as well. We do not have dull days at school any more. I have always enjoyed teaching but this year has been more enjoyable than any other that I have taught. No one has to be made to get his lessons. All the children want to do that. — Arethusa Lowery, teacher,' Eureka School, Atchison Co. GIVE THE BOYS AND GIRLS SOMETHING NEW EACH YEAR m EMEMBER, that in the rural schools, the younger children know what is taught to the 7th and 8th grades — in fact they actually help their older brothers and sisters do the agricultural work at home and in the school. Then why not give them something new each year? What the Children Say About the Holden Plan for Teaching Agriculture During the week that we made our first reading in corn-testing, James, a ten-year-old was out to help his father sow oats. When I told about our reading, that evening (his corn had tested 99 per cent and had to be read by another pupil) he exclaimed: "Now, don't you see, papa, I told you I'd miss the best part by staying home!" His father was convinced, and the next day he sowed oats alone, and we had James back at school. The record of past terms shows that this father has been taking his children out of school just after the Christmas holidays, but this year they are both in school yet, and the daughter is 16. I am not saying what has done the magic work. — Callie Summers, Howell County. After studying wheat out of a textbook for about three days, one boy said: "Let's quit this stuff and get out into Mr. Miller's wheat field and study wheat right." After testing which was the most productive, the one, two, or three- stalk hills, we figured out the yield per acre in each case. One boy said: *i wish we had this kind of arithmetic every day." Another fifth grade boy said: "These problems are easier than the ones in our arithmetic." They really required a great deal more thinking, however, than the ones in the arithmetic. When asked what the pupils would do if Vitalized Agriculture was taken out of the school, the children of the directors said: "Our papas would get no peace until they put it back." There would be a general uproar. Today is the last day of our school and it's been the most interesting one of all, due to the fact that we've been busy doing real work instead of reading about it. — Pupils of the Brown School. When the children were gathering the seed corn one of the neighbors saw them and wanted to know if there was no school. This was the answer: "School! Well, I should say there is! But we are learning real things NOW and not a lot of words. And say, if you will come to school you will find out the reason for these poor crops." This, perhaps, will give you an idea of what the children think of the work. — A Country School Teacher. School Officers' Viewpoint We are going to keep the same teacher next year and give him a good raise in salary for we want the Rotation Plan carried out in our school. 44 VITALIZED AGRICULTURE PAYS 45 Since the demonstration of the work done in the Vitalized Agriculture School, a number of school officers have asked for one of these special teachers and said they were ready to pay the price. The demand for specially trained Vitalized Agriculture teachers was greater than the supply; so 10 rural districts in Butler County combined and engaged Miss Ruth Oliver to supervise the work in each school and contracted to pay her $60 per month. H. 0. Harrowood. It is some event in Missouri Educational Affairs when 10 country districts each sign a note to spend $60 extra to have a country school supervisor. — T. J. Walker, State Country School Inspector. The inspector of Rural Schools writes: Vitalized Teachers is right. They all have the look of "Divine interest," and work with an avidity that makes one wonder if he is not dreaming of a pedagogue paradise instead of working with country teachers. The Vitalized Agriculture work in Missouri has passed beyond the experimental stage. It is now considered as necessary in our dis- trict as arithmetic. The parents say they will never tolerate anything else. The pupils are delighted with it and are looking forward to next year's work with great interest. Teachers, pupils, and parents in nearly all the other districts in the township are wanting it next year. — Bert Cooper. Patrons' Viewpoint To illustrate the interest the patrons are showing, they took the agriculture class teacher and County Superintendent five miles for the purpose of attending a demonstration by a Government Seed Corn Spe- cialist. The patrons of a community meeting declared the school building not adapted to the need of a Vitalized School, and pledged money and the labor for remodeling, which plan included a work room and a kitchen with necessary equipment. The parents are as interested as the children. They report a difference of altitude in some of the children toward the work of the farm. The people in some districts are taking more pride in the reputation of their school and have provided new equipment. The community has met more in the half year than in all of the last year. It has caused the parents to realize that morals may be hurt by unsanitary conditions and old outbuildings. I am emphatic in saying that Vitalized Agriculture pays. Is a Boy Worth as Much as a Pig? WE study the pig and study the pig. We puzzle over his needs. We erect good shelter for him. We feed him regularly and give him pure water and keep his pen clean. We send for booklets so we can read about the best things to do for him. We watch his development, noting every little change in his growth and disposition. We protect him in every way from disease, insanitation and incorrect breeding. If he gets sick, all our other work ceases while we call the veterinary to doctor him. We expend this time and thought and energy without complaint. There is almost a tenderness in our solicitude over the pig's health and care. But our boy! Do we study him — or just let him grow any way he will? Do we take the same interest in him that we do in the pig? Do we bother ourselves much about his needs? Do we plan his education and his training? Do we furnish for him the best school within our means, with the best teacher and the best equipment? Do we interest ourselves in his school life, keeping in active touch with what he does there? Do we visit the school and talk with the teacher? Do we make any sacrifice for his welfare and for the future good that he may be to himself end to us? Surely we must think him as valuable as our pigs. And as worthy of attention. He is human live stock — with the most wonderful pos- sibilities. Read this little incident — it may cause you to think: A mother living near one of our large agricultural colleges in the West telephoned for assistance for her sick son, asking if someone could not be sent to help him. The answer came back over the phone that this was not the purpose of the college, it being agricultural only. "We are sorry, madam, but we cannot help you, " was the reply. The very same day a message came from a farmer in the next county saying that he thought his hogs had cholera and he wanted help. Im- mediately a veterinary sped his way over the country in an auto, with his inoculation instruments and material, to take care of the sick hogs. Of course pigs are worth more than boys. The Meaning of Success ' I '0 be successful is not merely to be rich in money. There are many * men who have not much of this world's goods and yet are more successful than some others who have only hoarded their gold without contributing to the welfare of the community in which they live. 46 VITALIZING THE STUDY OF AGRICULTURE Missouri's Forward Movement for Rural Schools Is Well Worth a Study By T. J. WALKER, State Inspector of Rural Schools, Missouri (From Normal Instructor, November, 1918i SCENE: A typical American country schoolhouse, interior view. Per- sons: Country school teacher, country boys and girls — 20 more or less. Place: Somewhere in Missouri. Time: Late winter. The boys and girls are working about a table, some sitting, some standing, talking in an audible tone of voice. They are of varying ages and sizes, ranging in age from 10 to 15 years, and in size from the little, timid girl to the overgrown, awkward boy. Happiness is pictured on their faces. Interest, enthusiasm and naturalness are evident in their conduct. Ears of corn, seed corn testing-boxes, and pencils and paper are the materials with which the children are working. Around the walls, in racks orderly arranged, are hundreds of ears of corn, each bearing a tag. Things Before Ideas What sort of school is this? How did it come about? The school is a real country school. Not rural in location merely, but in spirit and pur- pose as well. The teacher is teaching in terms of the children's lives. She has found that pedagogy is a thing to practise — a means of develop- ing boys and girls- and not simply a bridge by which she may cross from the realm of the layman into the land of the licensed teacher. She has learned that "Things come before ideas," and the corollary that ideas do not come without being preceded by things; that we learn to do a thing by doing that thing, and not by doing some other thing, and that the mind grows by its own activity. Long ago she could say these words; now she is living these truths. She has learned, too, that agriculture is not in books. She knows that its spirit is to be found in fields of corn and wheat and oats; in meadows of clover, and alfalfa and timothy; in the pastures with horses and cattle and sheep; in the barnyard with pigs and calves, and in the poultry yard where the hens are cackling and filling the air with voices that put a song in the housewife's heart; in short, that agri- culture is all the environment of country life. She has also acquired a new viewpoint of education. She now thinl^s of educational agriculture instead of agricultural education. She uses corn and alfalfa because she sees in these things a means of educating her boys and girls. She is thinking of boys and girls more than ofboo^s and subject matter. 47 48 ROTATION PLAN SOLVES PROBLEM Workshop for Expression and Activity How did this sort of school come to be? How did it get away from the idea that a school is a place for books and not for corn, a workshop for expression and activity rather than a jail-like cloister for suppression and passivity? First, the rural school teachers, county superintendents, and state superintendent had long been conscious that something was wrong. Second, they were honestly looking for a way to right the wrong. Third, they were willing to get out of the rut of tradition into the path of prog- ress. They saw that the country people were not responding to the call for more liberal financial support of their schools; but they failed to see clearly that the country school was not meeting the needs of the people and that the people would naturally be slow about buying more of the things that did not satisfy them and of which they already had more than they needed. These school people had preached, but practice had continued in the ways of yore. They had written courses of study in agriculture, emphasi?- ing the concrete, outlining experiments, and detailing problems, but the teaching continued to be abstract and dead. They had encouraged club activities, but these were for the most part outside the school and brought little or no vitality into it. Occasionally, some high-spirited teacher would take hold of the steering wheel, step on the gas, and climb out of the ditch, but soon the school was back in the rut and some other person was the center of attention. She had gotten out, but the new path was not clear and the old rut was preferable to a trackless waste. Missouri rural schools, like those of most of the other states, were making no prog- ress because they knew not where to go. In January, 1917, Prof. Perry G. Holden, Director of the Agricul- tural Extension Department of the International Harvester Company, delivered an address in Columbia, Missouri, before an audience of repre- sentative farmers and people interested in country life. He maintained that agriculture in rural schools would vitalize rural life. His big ideas were: Teach in terms of life, study things, do something, don't teach over and over again the same thing year after year. The Rotation Plan of Teaching The last of these ideas he called "Rotation. " He outlined a plan which, briefly stated, was this: First year — Work with and study crops; Second year — Making things — carpentry, rope tying, cement work; Third year — Living things — animals, birds, insects; Fourth year — The heme and the soil. ROTATION THE BIG IDEA 49 This last idea, "Rotation," over a four-year period, was the new idea and therefore the one that jarred our placidity. The first one, "Teaching in terms of life," we could endorse (though we had not practised it), be- cause it connected us with the idea of "apperceptive mass," a term much loved, because knowing how to say it had helped us to get our first cer- tificate. So with the next two, "Study things" and "Do something," we recognized them as old, plausible theories, notwithstanding the fact that in the schoolroom we had seldom put them to the test. But to take pupils from the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades and put them to- gether in one class to study corn contradicted our idea of gradation, our sense of propriety, and our fixed ideas of lockstep, which we were better pleased to call "System." On closer examination, however, we found that this had many argu- ments in favor of it. It made the classes larger and in most rural schools they were too small. It connected the agriculture class with a much larger number of homes in the community, and this work was to take hold of mothers and fathers and home life, if it was to do what we desired. vitalize rural life. "Rotation," above all, would keep up interest, for by this plan children would not be required to take the same thing over year after year, or to study the matter that had been rehearsed year after year in their presence, by the older pupils. Holden Agreed to Help The State Superintendent of Public Schools, Uel W. Lamkin, wanted to do something for the country children to such a degree that he was willing to attempt the new in order to do it. Realizing that telling folks to do things had failed, he determined that those who undertook this work should be shown. Accordingly, about one-fifth of the county superin- tendents of the state were selected to give a week of intensive work in studying the new plans. Professor Holden agreed to take charge of the instruction, and the State Rural School Inspector was charged with the responsibility of its success. These county supermtendents came, and for five days of 14 hours each they worked. They counted stands of corn and made and solved problems growing out of the count. They "put over" tests of seed corn. They dug up alfalfa roots. They treated oats for smut. In short, they got the vision and learned to do some definite things. Then they returned to their counties, selected a few teachers of the right kind, and in a week of work, similar to that which they had received, they gave to the teachers the necessary viewpoint and the self-confidence acquired from having actually done a few of the things as they were to be done in their schools. During the year, the county superintendents supervised these teachers, and together with the county superintendent. 50 PEOPLE ENDORSE PLAN the teachers held frequent conferences, planning their work for the next two or three weeks. Short courses were held by Professor Holden during the year in various parts of the state for these county super- intendents and their teachers. The results are that in Mis- souri more than one hundred schools fit the picture briefly de- scribed in the first paragraph of this article. These schools are vitalized, not in agriculture alone, but in all the subjects taught. Arithmetical problems growing out of the study of corn are carried over into the arithmetic classes for study and solution. Language problems take the period ordinarily assigned to that subject, so that these lessons are really motivated. E In "white" counties Vitalized Agriculture is being taught. In "shaded" counties steps have been taken to adopt plan. "Black" counties have not yet taken up the plan. People Like Plan The people have uniformly, unanimously, and enthusiastically en- dorsed the work in the districts where it has been done. One farmer told the writer that as a member of the school board, he would never con- sider the application of a teacher who could not teach this kind of agri- culture. They realize its value. Because it satisfies a need, the people have retained the teachers and raised their salaries. The state university and the five normal schools have endorsed the movement and have organized courses or work according to the plan. Last summer Professor Holden conducted short courses of a week's dura- tion in each of the five normal school districts under the direction and authority of the State Superintendent of Schools, giving to normal school teachers, county superintendents, and country teachers the proper view- point. Missouri knows that the plan works. She will in a few years have it working in all of her rural schools. The State institutions for the training of teachers will find a way of getting all of the teachers into the institutions to prepare themselves thoroughly, or they will find a way to prepare these teachers in their respective counties. It is worth the price. Missouri will pay it. Agriculture the Greatest Industry TN the United States there are about 40,000,000 people engaged in ■'• money-making pursuits. Of these, about 12,600,000 are engaged in agricultural work; 10,800,000 in manufacturing and mechanics; about 5,300,000 in domestic service. (This class needs some explanation. It includes keepers and employes cf hotels, restaurants, boarding and rooming houses and laundries, bootblacks, umbrella menders and scissor grinders, employes of sa- loons and dance halls, and of some minor occupations. It does not include housewives, who are classed in the U. S. Census Re- port as having "no occupation.") 7,600,000 are employed in trades and transportation, and 1,800,000, or only 5 per cent of the workers, are in the professions — law, medi- cine, teaching, ministry, etc. Yet for years our school system has been based on the needs of that 5 per cent. Isn't it about time that we gave some consideration to the other 95? Trade schools and manual training have been receiving considera- tion for several years, but it is only very recently that we have begun to give any attention to this largest group of all — the farmers, who com- prise 33 per cent of our working population. Not only that 5 per cent, but all these boys and girls have a right to ask that the schools give them some training for carrying on their work in the world. It is not practical to educate all the 25,000,000 school children cf the United States for the professions, if less than 2,000,000 of them can find employment in those lines. Training in agriculture will result in a general improvem.ent in agricultural practices, and the direct and immediate result of this im- provement is better homes, better schools, and better education. AGRICULTURE THE GREATEST INDUSTRY U.S. CENSUS 1910 CAPITAL INVESTED AGRICULTURE S4I BILLION 1 MFG & RY'S •36 BILLION. ^1 PEOPLE EMPLOYED AGRICULTURE 10.800.000 MFG s MECH 7.600.000 5.300.000 1.800000 TRADES-TRAMS DOMESTIC PROFESSIONAL ® LIBRftRY OF CONGRES: 019 885 169 3 llii; HAKVESTEB PBES8