Farm Boys and Girls Part 24

SHOULD THERE BE AN ACTUAL INVESTMENT?

Then, what if anything should be done in the ordinary farm home by way of providing an investment for the growing daughter so that she may daily have some practice in business affairs, as well as an income for use in meeting her personal expenses? Before attempting to answer this question, let us be certain that we have the correct point of view of the growing daughter's ideal relation to the practical affairs in the rural home. It seems to the author that there is only one safe rule of procedure here and that is, whatever the investment,--if there be any at all,--it must be understood that the ideal is one of developing the girl into a beautiful womanhood and not one of making the investment pay in the mere money sense of the term. In other words, the business of the farm and the farm home must serve directly the highest interests of the members of the household, even though money acc.u.mulations cannot, as a result, go on quite so fast. Or, as we have put it several times before: The farm and the live stock and all that pertains thereto must be so managed as to contribute directly to the development of the high aspects of character in the boys and girls, and not as materials which the growing boys and girls are to help build up and multiply.

Now, if it still be insisted upon that the country girl have a definite business relation to the affairs of the home, there are two or three ways whereby this may be accomplished. One method is to give the girl a fixed and reasonable sum of money for whatever she may do by way of helping in the house. Another is that of providing a small investment in something that may be expected to increase reasonably in value and finally bring her a money return. Of the two methods of procedure mentioned, it would seem that the first is the more desirable. If the daughter be given an interest in anything like the live stock or some farm crop, the thing will not appeal to her directly, and whatever interest she may have in it will be a purely borrowed one. On the other hand, if she be given a generous allowance for her services, and during the younger years be trained in the expenditure of this allowance, good results may be expected. Similarly as with the boy, the growing girl must be taught to look toward the future. A system of restraints must be placed against her tendency to squander her small income, and gradually she may be trained to set aside a small portion of what she has with a view to its being applied upon something of her own later in life. It is perhaps too much to ask the girl to save enough money to pay her way through college, but there are many advantages in training her to save for a certain portion of that expense. Perhaps she may be able to buy her own clothes.

It is not reasonable to a.s.sume that every well-trained country girl will find it advisable to take a college course. So, instead of saving up for college expenses, she may be taught to lay by something for the day of her marriage and with the thought of helping equip a home of her own. As a matter of fact, it is not a question of the specific purpose for which the money may be set apart. The main issue is that of staying by her day after day and week after week, and guiding and advising her until she finally acquires good sense, mature judgment, and self-reliance in regard to the business affairs that may be expected to const.i.tute a part of her life as a keeper of a home of her own.

_How the southern girls earn money._--One of the most interesting and significant modern movements in behalf of juvenile industry is that of the Southern Girls' Tomato Clubs, originated in 1910 by Miss Marie Cromer, a rural school teacher of North Carolina. Thousands of young girls are now partic.i.p.ants in the new work, each one tending a small plat of tomatoes and canning the produce for the market. One girl is reported to have cleared $130 from one season's crop raised on one fourth of an acre. The General Education Board and the National Department of Agriculture have given liberal support to this tomato-growing work.

CHAPTER XVI

_WHAT SCHOOLING SHOULD THE COUNTRY BOY HAVE?_

It is a well-known fact that rural life conditions have been changing rapidly within the past decade or more. It has taken us a long while to get away from the thought that the farmer is to be anything other than merely a plain, coa.r.s.e man, comparatively uneducated and innocent of the ways of the world. But we are at last seeing the light in respect to this and many another such traditional belief of a menacing nature. We are now looking forward expectantly to the time when the rural community shall contain its proportionate share of people educated or cultured in the full sense of either of these words.

CHANGES IN RURAL SCHOOL CONDITIONS

Many of those now in middle life can easily remember when the farmer boy was sent to school only during the time when his services were not required for the performance of the work about the field and the home.

This period was narrowed down to about three months in the year. After the corn was husked in the fall, he entered school, usually about December first. And at the first sign of spring, about March first, he was called away to begin preparations for the new season's crop. During these sixty days, more or less, the growing lad was supposed to pick up the rudiments of learning and by the time maturity was reached to have worked himself out of the ranks of the illiterate. So he did, for he learned to read falteringly, to write a scrawling hand, and to solve a few arithmetical problems.

We observe the new order of things. In practically all the states there have been recently enacted laws requiring every normal child to attend school during the entire term and to continue for a period of seven or eight years. The splendid results of this provision have only begun to be apparent, but another decade will reveal them in large proportions.

Back of this new legislation in behalf of the boys and girls is the new ideal of the possibilities and the worth of the ordinary human being. We are just beginning to understand this splendid truth; namely, that with very few exceptions all of our new-born young have latent within them all the apt.i.tudes necessary for the development of beautiful and symmetrical character. The modern ideal of public education recognizes two things: first, the right of the child to the fullest possible development; and second, the duty of society to see that the child receive such training whether the parent may wish to accord it to him or not.

The author is especially desirous that the reader appreciate the situation sketched in the foregoing paragraph. What does it mean? It means that our children are at last to have more nearly equal opportunities of development, that their worthy apt.i.tudes or traits are to be brought out through instruction and made to do service in the construction of a sterling character. It means that we shall have cultured artisans as well as cultured artists; that the plain man behind the plow or in the workshop shall be capable of thinking the big, inspiring thoughts as well as the little, puny ones. It means that there will spring up everywhere among the ranks of those once regarded as low and coa.r.s.e, a magnificent society of men and women who, as individuals, will feel and realize a secret sense of power and worth, and who will shine in the light of a new inspiration.

THE BOY A BUNDLE OF POSSIBILITIES

It has been proved beyond question that the ordinary child contains at birth potentialities of development far greater in amount and variety than any amount of schooling can ever bring into full realization. If you will make a list of one hundred different and highly specialized vocations, and pause for a moment to contemplate the matter, you will doubtless agree that any common boy might be so trained as to some degree in any one of the hundred that he might be made to do fairly well in several of them; and that he might become an expert in at least one of them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XXVII.

FIG. 34.--Only whittling. But in the case of these country boys it is thought of as not mere idling, but as a pastime that leads toward the world of industry.]

So, there is little need of being worried over the thought that the boy is a natural-born dullard, without native ability to learn and finally to make his way in the world. It is true that there is occasionally a real "blockhead" among children, but such cases are quite as rare as imbecility and physical deformity. Indeed, such cases are nearly always connected with one or both of the defects just named. Then, while in the usual instance the child is to be a.s.sumed to possess an ample amount of native talent, one of the specific problems of his parents and teachers is that of learning in time what his best latent talent is, so that it may give proper incentive and direction for his vocational life.

CLa.s.sES OF NATIVE ABILITY

Roughly speaking there are three cla.s.ses of native ability in the human offspring: the super-normal, the normal, and the sub-normal. The first is const.i.tuted of the geniuses--few and far between, perhaps one in a hundred to five hundred. The second is composed of the great ma.s.s of humanity upon which the stability of the race is built and out of which the geniuses--and the majority of the sub-normals--spring through fortuitous variation. The third cla.s.s is const.i.tuted of the feeble-minded, the imbeciles, and the exceedingly rare natural-born criminals--altogether, perhaps one in every two hundred or more of the population.

Now, what we are trying to get at here is a fair estimate of what the parent may reasonably look for by way of a stock of native ability in his child. The natural-born genius will be known by one special mark; namely, he will be so strongly inclined toward one special line of work or calling as to need no outside stimulus or incentive to make him take it up. Indeed, in the usual case of a p.r.o.nounced genius it is a very difficult matter to prevent the individual from following out his one over-mastering predisposition.

The marks of feeble-mindedness or idiocy are too well known to need description. Such cases are also so rare and so special in their manner of treatment as to call for no extended discussion.

THE GREAT TALENTED CLa.s.s

The great ma.s.ses of humanity are const.i.tuted of what we mean here by the talented. That is, as described above, at birth they possess a large and abundant stock of potentialities of learning and achievement--much more than can ever become actualized because of the comparatively limited time and means for education and training. Of course, we recognize that among the talented cla.s.ses there is an endless variety of combinations of abilities. So are there many degrees of ability.

But in addition to the foregoing marks of latent ability in the great middle cla.s.ses we must note a distinctive feature of the development and education of such cla.s.ses. It is this: _The two great conditions necessary for the successful development of the ordinary child are stimulus and opportunity._ Unless the slumbering talents be awakened by the proper stimuli, they may slumber on throughout the whole lifetime and no one detect their presence; and unless opportunities for development be given to satisfy the awakened talent, it may return permanently to its condition of quiescence.

In attempting to furnish the necessary stimuli and opportunities for the development of his boy, the farmer has--if he will only use it--a great advantage over the city father. The great variety of work-and-play experience afforded by the rural situation, the fairly good general schooling now coming more and more into reach of all farm homes, the many conditions contributory to self-reliance and independent thinking in the case of the boy--all these raw materials of stimulus and opportunity lie hidden about the common country home. But the parents must themselves become wider awake to the meanings and purposes of such materials, or otherwise their value is lost through disuse. And again, it is urged that parents make the same careful study of their children as they do of farm crops and live stock. See the reference lists following the first five chapters.

ROUND OUT THE BOY'S NATURE

Fortunately, the new provisions of the schools are furnishing more and more definitely the equipment and the course of training most necessary for the ma.s.ses of the growing children. Fortunately, too, the illiterate father is not to be permitted to dictate as to what subjects his boy is to study in the school, there being not only compulsory attendance, but strict requirements that every child pursue the prescribed course. The time is fast approaching when the rural parent in any community can feel a.s.sured that this course of study has been mapped out by expert authority in just such a way as to serve the highest needs of his boy, the idea being to teach and awaken every side of the young nature into its highest possible activity.

In the usual case it is a waste of time to attempt to predetermine the boy's vocational life before he has gone at least well up through the intermediate grades of the common school; and even then, there is usually not much indication of what he is best suited for. So, one of the great purposes of the common school course is that of sounding the boy on every side and in every depth of his nature, so to speak, in order to find what is there, and to determine what he is by inheritance best suited to do as a life work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XXVIII.

FIG. 35.--An ill.u.s.tration of how to keep the boy on the farm. Every boy needs to acquire early an intimate knowledge of some great industrial pursuit.]

The usual inclination of the rural parent is that of looking at his son's education too strictly in terms of dollars and cents and to be impatient at the thought of the boy's taking a broad, fundamental course of schooling. Such school subjects as language and composition are especially thought of as a useless waste of time. But fortunately, as indicated above, the choice is no longer left either to the boy or his father. The former must pursue the subjects a.s.signed him and allow time to prove the wisdom of such a procedure, as it most certainly will.

Wherefore, let the rural father attempt to think of his boy, not merely as a coming money-maker, but as a coming _man_; a man of power and worth and influence in the community in which he is to live, a man of whom his aged father in future time will be most proud, and by whom he will be highly honored.

OTHER IMPORTANT MATTERS

As suggested above, the evidence is very overwhelming in effect that it is the duty of rural parents to give their children a broad, general course of training as a foundation for efficient life in any place or position. Moreover, it must not be thought for a moment that the legacy of money or property will in any wise furnish a satisfactory subst.i.tute for such a course of training. Mean-spiritedness and narrow-mindedness are almost invariably prominent traits of the man who has been prepared to know nothing outside of his business even though that may be a big business. On the other hand, extensive culture, including a character well developed in all of its essential elements, is by far the best equipment that can possibly be furnished the boy for his start in life.

Now, while the growing boy's education must not be especially prejudiced in favor of any particular calling, there is no good reason why the farmer's son should not be given the benefit of every possible intimate and wholesome relation to the father's work and business. That is, he must not be forced to take up the vocation of farming, but he must be given every opportunity to know its best meanings and advantages. And if he is finally to leave for some foreign occupation, he must go with a profound sense of the possible worth and integrity of the calling of his father. Then, in order that there may be maintained most friendly relations between the farm boy and the farm life, see to it that he has an occasional outing. Widen the scope of his home environment by means of sending him outside occasionally. Let him go off to the state and county fair and learn what he can there. Let him partic.i.p.ate in the grain and stock judging contests, as heretofore recommended. Let him attend some of the larger sales of blooded stock and learn there to know more intimately the possibilities of animal husbandry. Accompany him on a trip to the big city occasionally--under proper provisions and restrictions--and help him to acquire some valuable lesson which may be taken back to the rural community and used to the advantage of the latter.

Also, what about the literature in the home? Although a chapter has already been given to the matter, for the sake of emphasizing its great importance it is again referred to here. Why not see to it that there be secured a few enticing volumes of the clean and uplifting sort? A very few dollars will furnish the nucleus of a library of which the boy will soon become proud. Ask the school superintendent or teacher to make out a list of ten of the best books for your boy and then secure these at once. Bring into the home also one or two of the best standard magazines and keep constantly on the table one or more of the best and cleanest newspapers. Then, see to it that the boy's life be not so nearly dragged out during the day's work that he cannot spend thirty minutes or more of each evening at the reading table.

DEVELOP AN INTEREST IN HUMANITY

All education is for the sake of human welfare. The thing learned like the material thing possessed is most worth while in proportion as it serves some high human purpose or need. There is abundant opportunity to teach the country boy that education cannot well exist for its own sake or purely for one's own selfish uses. So it is well early to awaken the youth's interest in people. Have him compare his own lot with that of others in very different circ.u.mstances. Take him occasionally to the orphanage, the industrial (reform) school, the imbecile and insane asylums, the prisons, and the sweat-shops in the city. Thus through acquainting him with how the other half lives you may cause the boy to reflect seriously on the best meanings and possibilities of his own life, and to plan in his mind a splendid ideal of integrity for his own coming manhood.

The boy's education is not going on rightly if he is not being introduced to the current affairs of the world. The literature suggested above should be made to serve the purpose of bringing his attention to these matters. He should become interested in the political welfare of his community, his state, and his nation, and learn to feel his responsibility in regard to such things. But he will probably not voluntarily acquire these better relations to society at large. It should therefore be regarded as the urgent duty of the parent to give the necessary guidance and instruction.

Finally, we must again be reminded of the high ideals of education and culture necessary to, and consistent with, substantial country life. The greatest of producing cla.s.ses--the agronomists--must and can in time rank at the head of all others in moral and intellectual worth. So, let the rural parent look ahead and formulate in his own mind the splendid vision of his son grown up to full maturity of all his best powers. Let him see this future citizen as a man of magnanimity, of splendid personal force, and of great constructive ability in the important work of budding up the affairs of the community in which he is to live.

REFERENCES

Chapters in Rural Progress. President Kenyon L. b.u.t.terfield.

Chapter VI. "Education for the Farmer." University of Chicago Press.