THE FARMER FORTUNATE
Our justification for the foregoing somewhat lengthy discussion of the different theories of education is that of wishing to be certain of bespeaking the father"s patience and forbearance in the preparation of his son for the vocational life. The farmer is most fortunate in having ready at hand a large amount and variety of industrial practice to supplement the boy"s book lessons. In this respect he probably has a superior advantage over all other cla.s.ses.
But in guiding his boy gradually toward the vocational life the farm father can easily mistake what is merely a pa.s.sing interest on the former"s part for a permanent one. The carefully kept records of farm boys show that they take up many different lines of work with great enthusiasm, and yet soon tire of them and drop them. These serial and transitory interests are usually mere juvenile responses to the awakening of some new nerve centers. They are not much different in nature from the brief pa.s.sing interest which the child has in his various playthings.
Now, the chief function of these transitory interests in special forms of work and learning as shown by the young growing boy is this: to furnish the occasions for a great variety of activities and practices for trying him out on all the possible sides of his nature. Not one of these intense boyish interests is necessarily very directly preparatory to his final choice of a vocation, while all are indirectly so.
Therefore, if the fifteen-year-old son chances to win in a corn-raising contest, or at a live-stock exhibition, or if he manifests unusual interest in arithmethic, declamation, or nature study, do not regard any of these as necessarily pointing to his best possible vocational work.
Presumably, at such an undeveloped age, he is still in possession of some latent interests and apt.i.tudes, one of which may far outweigh any such thing hitherto awakened in his life. Give him time to mature and, if at all practicable, send him on to college.
WHAT COLLEGE FOR THE COUNTRY BOY
It is the opinion of the author that the State Agricultural College, as now situated and organized, is the ideal inst.i.tution of higher learning for the country-bred youth. It offers him every reasonable incentive and opportunity for continuing in the calling of his father, if he be so inclined, while at the same time it gives instruction in many other departments of learning. Whether the state inst.i.tution be a separate one or merely a college within the organization of the state university matters little. In either case the young man will be brought within reach of a course in scientific farming, stock raising, horticulture, and the like, either to choose or let alone--and the so-called cultural work will still be there for the taking.
THE FOUNDATION IN WORK
Many rural parents, weighted down with the over-work of the farm, cherish and express a very earnest desire that their sons may find some easier form of earning a living. So they deliberately plan with the boy the "easy" course to be pursued. Said one such farmer: "Wife and I decided that there would not be much in it for Henry except hard work if he settled down on the home place, so we decided to send him to college and educate him for something that offered less work and more pay." So they shielded the son from the heavier duties of the farm and encouraged in every way the boy"s thought of an easy way to success.
But one thing these well-meaning parents failed to foresee. That is, when the boy entered college, he began to look for that same sort of royal road to learning. The a.s.signed lessons and tasks soon took the appearance of drudgery and he dodged and avoided them wherever possible.
In less than a year the youth had failed at college and was back home.
"The confinement of the college did not agree with his health." More than three years have pa.s.sed since, and the boy has spent the time drifting from one "job" to another and all the while growing weaker in character and integrity.
Here we have but another instance of the old, old story, with its tragic aspects. Yet, nearly all the faltering, vacillating men now drifting about the country might have been saved through careful training in the performance of work. The boy who would be insured success in his coming vocation must be required to buckle down to solid work of a kind and amount to suit his years and strength. He must learn through the character-building experience of toil, not only what it means to stay by an a.s.signed duty till it is performed, but he must also experience the unfailing joy of work well done. He will thus have the advantage of the spur of successful effort and acquire the beginnings of that splendid self-reliance which is a distinguishing mark of all successful men.
CLEAN UP THE PLACE
But there is a sort of drudgery and of ugliness against which the boy"s nature instinctively rebels, and it ought to. By this we mean to refer to the actual conditions of over-work and the accompanying run-down appearance that characterizes so many farm homes to-day. No wonder the boys hasten away to the city to find a "job."
Why not clean up the place by cutting away the underbrush and weeds, by planting shade trees and repairing fences and out buildings, by painting and renovating the house and barn?--and all this as an investment in behalf of the children and their possible future interest in the farm home as the best place on earth in which to dwell? All this and more might be urged as means of guiding the thoughts of the farm boy towards the possibilities of his taking up the calling of his father. And while all these material advantages may not serve to overcome the natural tendency of the young man to seek a radically different type of occupation, they will at least make it more certain that his natural abilities for an agricultural pursuit were not left unawakened.
MONEY VALUE OF AN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
The College of Agriculture in Cornell University some time ago made an inquiry into the educational status of the farmers in a certain county of New York. It was found that out of 573 farmers, 398 had not advanced farther than the district school, 165 had attended high school one or more years, and 10 had received a college education. The 398 who had attended district school only were receiving yearly for their labor $318; the 165 farmers of high school education were receiving annually $622; and the 10 who had attended college one or more years were receiving an average of $847 income for their services.
The foregoing investigation is at least suggestive in its results. It tends to prove that there is an actual earning-capacity value in the higher agricultural education. While the matter has never been extensively studied, it can doubtless be shown that the graduates of the agricultural course are receiving much larger incomes than any of the cla.s.ses named above. In addition it can doubtless be shown that these graduates are better equipped, not only for earning a livelihood, but for substantial citizenship. Of course there are many notable exceptions to this rule, but the rule is, nevertheless, general.
Now, if the farm parent wishes to figure his boy"s future on the basis of money-earning capacity, he can easily be shown that the higher schooling in the average case increases such capacity. In addition there is abundant evidence of the fact that the higher schooling gives the young man a much better equipment for serving the society in which he is to live.
A SUCCESSFUL VOCATION CERTAIN
Finally, it may be said that the successful vocational life of the ordinary country-bred boy may be guaranteed as practically certain, provided he have every ordinary advantage of development and training of which he is capable. Train him early in lessons of obedience and work; make his life more wholesome through ample play and recreation; see that he learns how to earn money and how to save a part of his earnings; provide that he attend the public school regularly until at least the grammar grades be finished; give him an opportunity to become personally interested in the business side of the farm life; allow him opportunities to mingle with the cleanest possible society of his own age; and then await patiently his own inner promptings as to what line of work he should take up. A college course may prove necessary in order to help him uncover deeper and better levels that lie hidden in his nature. Then, after he has chosen a calling in this careful and reliable way, with all your might, mind, and soul encourage and support him in his efforts! This is practically the only way to make a big, efficient man and citizen of your boy and to make his calling a _divine_ calling.
REFERENCES
_Vocational Education._ Published bi-monthly. $1.50 per year.
The Manual Arts Press, Peoria, Ill.
Vocational Education. John M. Gillette. Chapter VI, "Importance of the Economic Interest in Society." American Book Company.
Vocational Guidance of Youth. Meyer Bloomfield. Chapter II, "Vocational Chaos and its Consequences." Houghton, Mifflin Company. The entire volume is most timely and helpful.
The Problem of Vocational Education. David Snedden, Ph.D.
Houghton, Mifflin Company.
New Type of Rural School House. W. H. Jenkins. _Craftsman_, May, 1911.
Vocational Direction, or The Boy and his Job. _Annals American Academy_, March, 1910.
Education for a Vocation. President"s address before the N.E.A. Annual Volume, 1908, p. 56.
Vocational Direction. E. W. Lord. _Annals Academy of Political and Social Science_ (Philadelphia), March, 1910.
Social Phase of Education. Samuel T. Dutten. Page 143, "The Relation of Education to Vocation." Macmillan. The entire book is sound and sane.
Income of College Graduates Ten Years after Graduation. H. A.
Miller. _Science_, Feb. 4, 1910.
Occupations of College Graduates as Influenced by the Undergraduate Course. F. P. Keppel. _Educational Review_, December, 1910.
a.s.sisting the Boy in the Choice of a Vocation. Pamphlet. Wm.
A. McKeever. Manhattan, Kan.
CHAPTER XIX
_THE FARM GIRL"S PREPARATION FOR A VOCATION_
What, may we ask, are rural parents doing in regard to the careful preparation of their growing daughters for the vocational life? The author has frequently a.s.serted that many a farmer is to-day giving vastly more thought to the question of preparing his live stock for the money market than to preparing his girls for their life work. The seriousness, the well-nigh cruelty, of this situation becomes apparent only when we inquire into the facts. How long must this carelessness continue? How long will farmers remain indifferent to the tremendous responsibility of giving their children every possible aid in the direction of a high and worthy occupation? Their chief concern continues to be centered too exclusively upon the cattle and the hogs and the corn. Are the boys and girls to be left to shift for themselves? And are they to continue to have their careers determined by mere chance and incident?
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE x.x.x.
FIG. 37.--Country school girls learning the rudiments of cooking. In no distant future such work will be required along with the traditional subjects.]
WHAT IS THE OUTLOOK
So, if the country father having a young family were here before us, we should ask him: What is the outlook in regard to a happy future for your growing daughter? Do you want her to take her place among the men and be forced to do some sort of man"s work in order to obtain her bread? or, do you earnestly desire that she find some sort of worthy woman"s work? And if the latter be your choice, what helpful agencies are you bringing to bear upon the situation? In the midst of all your consideration of these matters touching your daughter, we should have you most earnestly and prayerfully consider at least one thing; namely, with few possible exceptions, the healthy, growing girl looks forward instinctively to the time when she is to become mistress of a household of her own. And in every case, if the girl fails to become such a mistress, there is only one reasonable alternative to be thought of and that is to provide that she engage in some sort of work which will give expression in the largest possible measure to that which is best and truest in her feminine nature.
Ordinarily, in planning for the future of their daughter, parents might as well consider the problem as having a two-fold aspect. a.s.suming first of all that the girl instinctively desires to preside over a home of her own, how can she best be prepared for that place? Second, in case that, by some miscarriage of plans, she fails to reach this most worthy ambition, what may she safely fall back upon as an adequate means of self-support? Now, if this statement of the matter be a correct one, it seems that the general scope of the problem of preparing a girl for her vocation ought to be fairly clear. Still another way of putting the situation is this: The girl must be carefully prepared, not only for her first choice of an occupation, but also for her second choice, because of grave danger of the failure of her first choice to be realized.