Agricultural Education by H. A. Washburn

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · May 12, 1904

Agricultural Education

By H. A. Washburn

A Great Opportunity

WHEN God has a message for the world, there is a preparation in the world for that message. He has to-day a message of educational reform, in which agricultural education has a very prominent place. He has prepared the way for this message. There is a desire in the world for this truth, and efforts are being made to find it. God desires that his people shall answer this need with the truth of God. They have the opportunity to step forward, and lead in this movement. “In educational lines everything is arranged for an earnest reform, for a truer, more effective education. Will our people accept this holy trust?” God would not have his people act so slowly as to give the leadership in this movement to the world, while they follow as best they can. He would have his people “the head, and not the tail,” “above only,” and “not beneath.” They should therefore act promptly, with “delay no longer.”

The World Calling

An extensive demand is arising for general education in agriculture. The necessity for this is found in changing conditions, among which may be mentioned the limitation of the vast acreage which has been had almost for the asking, resulting in the vicious waste that has been common in American farming. The successful culture of the soil is thus becoming more intensive and scientific. In addition to this, as stated by an authority on this subject, “The farmer finds himself face to face with the problem of competition with farmers of other localities. It is no longer a question of the man who can work the longest hours and the hardest, but it is a question of the man who puts the most keen thinking into his work; who not only does something, but does it because it comes out of purposeful thinking, and to do that most effectively that man must be trained in his thinking.”

Agricultural colleges have been established in the various States, but the number obtaining the advantages of these institutions is so small that a demand of increasing intensity is arising for secondary schools in agriculture. The great advantages of such schools are illustrated in many of the European countries, where agriculture has been made a part of the work in even the primary schools. The movement for secondary agricultural schools in this country looks forward to the placing of agriculture in the elementary schools also. The grade of these secondary schools is thus described by a leading educator, who has secured the establishment of the first of these schools: “It is necessary for us, if we are to do anything for the district school to better its conditions, to make a radical change in the course of study, and add to our system such schools as I have indicated,—schools that shall stand above the district school, and especially designed for the farmer’s boy and girl, and not of the same character as the high school.” It is remarkable that this is exactly what our people are doing in the establishment of our intermediate schools.

The Call From the South

The movement just alluded to is developing in all the Northern States, but a similar call is coming from the South. To quote President Dabney, of the University of Tennessee: “The problem of the South, like most sections of our country, in fact, is the problem of the rural schools. . . . Our special problem is the establishment of rural schools where the elements of natural science and industrial arts are taught. . . . The people are sick of the old education. The true education supports the life the man or the woman is to lead; it is training for complete living. How absurd, yes, how wicked it is, then, to train the farmer’s children, who must live in contact with nature on the farm, in a fashion that fits them only to be bookkeepers or saleswomen in a city. The trouble with the old education was that it educated all the bright young people out of the country. The new education is related to the economic life of the people, and prepares them for the industries in which they are to make their living. . . . The greatest problem we have to solve in this generation is that of the rural industrial school. Such is the situation that confronts us, such is the problem we must solve. The great question is, How shall all the people of the South be educated and trained for actual life? Who is to do this work? Shall individuals do it? Shall the churches do it?” (Italics ours.) It is entirely appropriate that this call should be addressed to the church. Every need of the world is to be responded to by the church of God. He designs that his remnant church shall illustrate the character of education which alone will answer to the necessity of the times.

“A Great Popular Movement”

While the movement for general agricultural education is spreading through all the Northern States, it is in Wisconsin especially that the movement has made most progress. Provision by law has been made, and two secondary agricultural schools have been started, the first of the kind in America. These are now doing their second year’s work, and the results are such that others are called for in various localities. It is reason for gratitude that God foresaw the origin of this movement, and established one of the first of our intermediate schools in this State, placing it on a good foundation for work, and giving it quite remarkable prosperity. It is sincerely to be hoped that this school will be so managed that it shall keep in the lead, and that “through the excellence of the work done . . . the attention of the people shall be called to the last great effort to save the perishing.”

In working for the adoption of these new plans in educational effort, the State superintendent of Wisconsin declared, “This thing is in the air!” His statement was correct. The United States Secretary of Agriculture says in a recent report: “We are, without doubt, in this country just on the edge of a great popular movement for the improvement of the conditions of rural life through the improvement of the rural schools. As one phase of this movement there will come the broadening of the instruction in the principles of agriculture, so that in addition to college courses we shall have secondary courses in ordinary and special high schools, and even some elementary instruction in the common schools.”

“It is the purpose of God that through the excellence of the work done in our educational institutions the attention of the people shall be called to the last great effort to save the perishing.” “God expects his institutions to excel those of the world.” Shall we, then, wait until the “great popular movement” is well started, and ahead of us, before we take active steps to carry out the instruction the Lord has mercifully sent us? Shall we make the same mistake Israel did? If not, let us not delay in heeding the instruction: “Study in agricultural lines should be the A, B, and C of the education given in our schools. This is the very first work that should be entered upon.”

H. A. WASHBURN.