Part 11 (1/2)
13 Compare the socialized recitation with a debate
14 Coument
15 Show just why the results of the socialized recitation are likely to be permanent
16 How does socialized class work affect the hoh school is a preparation for life, it, at the same time, is life Show that the socialized recitation presupposes this truth
18 Conment of a history lesson in the manner described in the notes quoted with the value of an ordinary assignment
19 Describe at least one other socialized recitation
20 Compare socialized work as described in Scott's Social Education (C
A Scott, Ginn & Co, 1908) with the socialized recitation here described, as to (_a_) aim, (_b_) method, (_c_) results
21 ”Lessons require two kinds of industry, the private individual industry and the social industry or class work” Is this true? If so, what sort of recitation-lesson will stimulate each kind?
CHAPTER XVI
AGRICULTURE
=Agriculture a typical study=--In the vitalized school the subject of agriculture is typical and may profitably be elaborated so the relation of a subject to school procedure Froriculture we find it inextricably connected with huives to it the rank of first importance Its present prominence as a school study is conclusive evidence that those who are charged with the responsibility of ad conscious of the need for vitalizing thearded as the iven precedence over all others History, grariculture was not even thought of as a school study But as population increased and the problee in the public consciousness, the subject of agriculture assumed an importance that rendered it worthy a place in the school curriculuh tribute to the school that whenever any subject takes hold of the public ency for pro that subject The subjects of te aptly illustrate this statement of fact
=Its rapid developriculture became prominent in the public consciousness there ensued a speedy develop of teachers This movement was prophetic of the plan and purpose to incorporate this study in the school regime And this prophecy has been fulfilled, for the school now looks upon agriculture as a basic study True, we are as yet only feeling our way, and that for the very good reason that the nitude of the subject bewilders us We have written many textbooks on the subject that were soon supplemented by better ones The more the subject is studied, thera itself to many other subjects to which it seees of our study In brief, we are now on the borderland of a realization of the fact that agriculture is as broad as life and, therefore, must embrace many other studies that have a close relation to life
=Relation to geology and other sciences=--In the beginning, geology and agriculture seericulture has revealed the fact that they are intiht ey The study of the composition and nature of the soil carried us at once to a study of its origin and we found ourselves at the very door of geology When we began to inquire how the soil came to be where it is and what it is, we found ourselves yearning for new and clearer lines of deuish between geology and physiography We soon traced our alluvial plains back to their upland origin, and then ere coration This led us inevitably into the realy, the chain is broken and we lose our way in our search for the explanation we need
But having availed ourselves of the aid of y, we have a story that is full of reat story of the evolution of the cornfield In this story we finddetails of evaporation, air ravitation But in all this we are but lingering in the anteroo but a single step we find ourselves in the real that men have devoted an entire lifetime to its wonders, and then realized that they had butits possibilities In our own tihout the world by his work in one phase of this subject, and a score of other Burbankswith equal success in other branches of the subject and still not trench upon one another's domain
Venturesome, indeed, would be the prophet ould attempt to predict the developments in the field of botany in the next century in the way of providing food, shelter, and clothing for the race The possibilities stagger the iination and the prophet stands bewildered as he faces this ever-widening field But botany, vast as it is seen to be, is only one of the branching sciences connected with agriculture
=Physics and ches us into the wide and fertile field of physics and chemistry, for in these subjects we find the riculture that without their aid would elude our grasp We have only to resolve a grain of corn into its component elements to realize the potency and scope of chemistry Then if we inquire into the sources of these elerain of corn, the indispensability of a knowledge of chemistry will become more apparent In our explanations we shall soon come upon capillary attraction, and the person is dull, indeed, who does not stand in awe before the mystery of this subject If we broaden our inquiry so as to compass the evolution of an ear of corn, we shall realize that we have entered upon an inquiry of vast and fascinating irowth, co, as they do, the influences of sunshi+ne and moisture and the conversion into food products of eleoes back to priether worthy of the coy=--But no y, which, alone, requires volumes We have but to ask hoheat is converted into brain power to conitude of the study of this science We have only to relax the leash of fancy to see that there are no limits to the excursions thatthe _a posteriori_ course, we arden and field, in orchard, and in pasture where graze flocks and herds But in any such fanciful y, and should be trying to interpret the adaptation of e of the present, we should bea quest to determine how the products of field, orchard, and pasture may be utilized that they may function in poetry, in oratory, in discoveries, and in inventions In short, we should be trying to explain to ourselves how agriculture functions in life
=Art as an auxiliary=--In a recent work of fiction a chapter opens with a picture of a little girl eating a slice of bread and butter which is further surar If the author of the book ”Agriculture and Life” had only caught a glied the title of his book to ”Life and Agriculture” He certainly would have given to the life element far more prominence than his book in its present form affords His title makes a promise which the book itself does not redeem, more's the pity If science would use art as an ally, it need not be less scientific, and its teachings would prove far irl with her bread and butter would prove quite as apt as an introductory picture for a book on agriculture as for a work of fiction It riculture includes so reat objective of the study of all these, and the little girl exemplifies life
=Relation of sciences to life=--The pictures are practically endless hich we riculture--a boy in the turnip field, a milk the Birds” And, sooner or later, pursuing our journey froy, chey, and still never be detached froriculture and do they are e in the subject of life Upon that plane we find them to be complementary and reciprocal In the sariculture for the reason that all these sciences as well as agriculture have to do with life In the traditional school cheht as cheed to seek for knowledge In the vitalized school the truths of chemistry are no less clearly revealed, but, in addition, their relations to life are made manifest, and the learner has a fuller appreciation of life, because of his study of chemistry
=Traditional ht that the girl irl learns how to cook that she reeable and productive both for herself and for others In the traditional school the study of agriculture consists of the testing of soils and seeds, working out scientific theories on the subject of the rotation of crops, testing for food values the various products of the far and caring for orchards, and testing for thecrops In the vitalized school all this is done, but this is not the ultioal of the study The end is not reached until all these ramifications have touched life
=The child as the objective=--Reverting once irl of the picture, it will be conceded, upon careful consideration, that she is the center and focus of all the activities of riculture Every furrow that is plowed is plowed for her; every tree that is planted is planted for her; every crop that is harvested is harvested for her; and every trainload of grain istoward her as its destination But for her, farm machinery would be silent, orchards would decay, trains would cease to move, and commerce would be no more She it is that causes the wheels to turn, the harvesters to go forth to the fields, the experiment stations to be equipped and operated, the markets to throb with activity, and the shi+ps of coranary, the dairy, and the loo hands till, and toil, and spin
=The story of bread=--But the bread and butter, the apple sauce, and the sugar! They may not be omitted fro grain and conjures up in our ions groaning beneath their golden loads, riches of grain pouring forth fro of the harvest time Into this slice of bread the sun has poured his wealth of sunshi+ne all the su, and into it the kindly clouds have distilled their treasures In it we find the glory of the sunrise, the sparkling dewdrop, the song of the robin, the gentleof theand of the evening, the prophecy of the noontide heat, and thestories of health, of rosy cheeks, of laughing eyes, of happiness, of love and service