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Show UTILITARIAN EDUCATION. The trend of the times is towards education that qualifies for the activities activ-ities and responsibilities of life;.' It has been said that when one has lcasned to read he may have access to all knowledge written in his language. lan-guage. But knowledge has so greatly increased in that no one persopfevjir acquires it all. In the greaMtniversi- ties many and divers subjects arc taught, but the instruction is by specialists spe-cialists in the many departments of learning. It has been said that a mastery mas-tery of all that is offered in some of these institutions wouM rcqluiric a student's continued application for 150 years. If this is even approximately true the student's necessity for selection, se-lection, the impossibility of mastering master-ing more than a small fraction of the work offered, is obvious. The fact that the university studies do not include these of the elementary grades or of the high school is not to be overlooked. The instruction in well organized city schools includes eight years in the grades and four years in the high school. Th!c jcollcgc or university, work requires four years. If training for one of the professions be added to this, three or four more years will be 1 required. Summarizing we have: For the 'j graded schools, 8 years; for the high , school, 4 ya:rs; for the college or uni- ff vcrsity, 4 years, and for the professional profes-sional school, 4 years, making a total of 20 years. If, then, the child begin at six, havvS good health and no interruption, Tie may complete a fairly full course of schooling at 26. In many of the discussions of the present time various subjects of study arc strenuously urged as desirable additions ad-ditions to those 'now taught in the schools. Industrial subjects' have ; been introduced in many city schools beginning with the primary and continuing con-tinuing into the high school. Enlargement Enlarge-ment of this has been advocated. Instruction In-struction in agriculture, especially in country schools, is strongly insisted upon. Courses of instruction for teachers in agriculture arc announced courses now soon to open. Evidently, if much additional work is to be crowded into the school days of young America, those days will have to be lengthened or some adjustment ad-justment will have to be made. The demand for the introduction of industrial subjects into the course ot study may have been due in part to the fact that on graduation from cither high school or college the youth finds himself surprisingly unprepared un-prepared for the activities of life. He is' disappointed at his inability to realize quickly on the added power wlich he has believed he had been acquiring ac-quiring and which he will, in all probability, prob-ability, find real as he learns to use it. The superiority of the liberally educated ed-ucated person is estimated at about ! its true worth by the community, but there is disappointment because of . the fact that in most cases years arc required in which to realize upon advantages ad-vantages of training. It is, therefore, not surprising that the inquiry has been propounded whether it be not possible to so modify mod-ify courses of study as to retain the culture advantages and at the same time to equip the learner with ability to realize quickly upon his added powers, possibly to develop his powers pow-ers so that he may develop his pow- fl crs so that he may apply them in J some branch of the 'world's work jj0 without having to begin .to learn 1 where the unschooled man of affairs of his own age began several years ago. Among the attempts in a broad way to provide an affirmative answer to this inquiry the founding of the agricultural agri-cultural colleges stands conspicuous. The provisions of the Morrill act a signed by Abraham Lincoln arc very broad. The states have not been cn- tircly uniform in the success of their attempts to comply with the spirit of these provisios. Where the agricultural agricul-tural college has not been made a department de-partment of a university strong in- ! influence have favored the introduc tion of university features in the college. col-lege. For a long time it was impossible impossi-ble to mmn the agricultural colleges with qualified presidents and instruc- ! tors except as they were drawn from I the older kind of colleges. Some of these were able by abstract reasoning to realize that utilitarian education was the purpose of the agricultural colleges, but, able men as they were, 1 they could not divest themselves of their university instincts and aspirations. aspira-tions. Again, the agricultural colleges col-leges with few eyecptions were located locat-ed at or in the close vicinity of towns having city aspirations. The desire of these towns was for universities rather than agricultural colleges and their influence harmonized with tlv. instincts of the working force. The agricultural college idea harmonizes, har-monizes, however, with the cver-ln-crcasing common sense demand thnt education shall be useful and that school days must absorb lea than half a life time. These colleges and their demands have produced educators whose training as well as their, logic has shown them that cultural advantages may be derived from) learning what one needs to know; that strength may be developed by study that is concrete; that abstraction is not more educative than thought that is applied; ap-plied; that utilitarianism is to be cultivated cul-tivated and not despised. These modern educators arc now found not only in the agricultural colleges bur In the more advanced universities as well. The rudimentary studies of necessity neces-sity receive most of the attention of the pupils in the primary school. But the best high schools now provide several courses from which to select studies according to the use the pupil may have for knowledge and training of a particular kind. Tn the universities universi-ties many optional courses arc offered. of-fered. In the more modern universities' univer-sities' professional courses in great variety arc provided. In many cases one of these is made a part of the regular four-year course leading to a degree. Such a course well arranged, ably presented and carefully studied gives the student the broad culture needed by the citizen and fits him to enter upon his life career without the intervening incompetency which often of-ten cmbarrascs those who have dc-votcd dc-votcd their attention solely to the so-called so-called purely culture studies. Some of the greatest institutions provide a four-year business course, several four-year professional courses, " four-ycar four-ycar agricultural course, etc. It is also permitted to select from several of these for a four-year general couse leading to the regular bachelor's degree. de-gree. Thus, at Cornell studies from the agricultural course receive full credit on the work of the senior year. This recognition of the educational value of purely agricultural studros comes as a welcome endorsement Of positions long maintained by some progressive thinkers in Kansas. To serve their purposes best the agricultural colleges must remain considerably con-siderably differentiated from all other schools. The students with whom they deal arc the best in the world, but they come without the preliminary prelimi-nary preparation of the majority of those who enter the universities or the other colleges. It is possible tlmt this may be gradually changed by the developments of the consolidated district dis-trict schools, but for the present al least the agricultural colleges must provide for students who have not had high school privileges. Whatever else the agricultural college col-lege may do, it must teach and teach well those branches needed by the young citizens who will 'become farmers, farm-ers, or who will devote their powers to some of the mechanic arts. Time is coming when there will be a profession pro-fession of agriculture as much' as there arc now professions of law, of medicine and of the ministry. Time is coming when the profession of agriculture will be one of the most honorable because requiring a greater great-er range of exact knowledge, the exer cise of more accurate observation and of keener judgment than are nccc sary in other profession.". Time . coming when to hold a degree in agriculture agri-culture will be most desirable The agricultural colleges ought to he proud of their title, proud of their chief purpose. The path of honor for them lies along the line of greatest proficiency in providing for the educational edu-cational needs of those who arc to direct di-rect the agricultural destines of the country. To do this they must act upon the most advanced views of utilitarian education, not doubting that the acquisition of knowledge that can be used and the application of such knowledge develop symmetrical symme-trical mental powers of greater value than can be acquired in any other - , 1 -r-i- way. ,11 . J J . |