Rural Economics, and Insects and Insecticides (alternate).

COURSE OF STUDY.

PRIMARY AND PREVOCATIONAL DIVISIONS.

"Power to understand rightly and use critically the mother tongue is the flower of all education."-Charles Eliot.

"The farm, best home of the family; main source of national wealth; foundation of civilized society."-Inscription above the main entrance to the Union Station, Washington, D. C.

ENGLISH.

From primitive times reading, writing, and arithmetic have formed the foundation of education. Reading is placed first, then writing, these two being, in a sense, the precursors of the science of numbers.

The need to teach to read created the need for schools. The first schools were reading schools and the school has never gotten away from that primitive need. Reading, therefore, is the most important study of the elementary school; it is the key that unlocks the door to the other studies.

If one is to be guided by wisdom of the ages, the seers, poets, and the great men of action long since dead, then must recourse be had to the written word. The past deeds and experiences of the world are thus added to the reader's and the records of history immeasurably broaden the otherwise narrow horizon of individual life.

Reading should not only confer knowledge but it should also stimulate the processes of thought and imagination, so that they widely increase the power to create, to give, and to receive thought. Its purely mechanical side should never be permitted to obscure the broader and worthier functions of reading.

The make-believe phase of the imagination of childhood is one of its most characteristic and charming qualities. Through this the child may easily be led to "play it is so" and thus to enter into dramatization with all of the freedom and much of the ease of that spirit. It has been quite definitely estimated that the white child at the age of 6 years is able to use from five to six hundred words as a speaking vocabulary, and that he understands from two to three thousand

words as a hearing vocabulary. He undoubtedly has learned more language than he will again learn in the same length of time.

The Indian child frequently comes under our care with a similar large store of information, but in a different tongue from English, and it is our duty to get him to think of and speak of his accumulated knowledge in English. At first it may seem that the Indian child on entering school is thus badly handicapped, but the chief handicap is merely the lack of a knowledge of English, and this is partly overcome by the patience of Indian children and the ease with which they may be interested in acquiring a new vocabulary.

It is a well-recognized fact that the first impressions that a child receives are strong and lasting, and it is almost impossible to get rid in after life of wrong or undesirable early impressions. By repetition the child learns words and sentences as he hears them, and correct habits of expression, like those of dress and manners, are best acquired from example, imitation, and association. Books on grammar or on etiquette can seldom accomplish what breeding, taste, and association have not done. The only way to teach a pupil good English is to surround him with its correct usage. The Indian child, like any other child, will form good habits or bad habits of speech, according to his atmosphere as well as his instruction. In this larger sense all persons who associate to any extent with Indian children are the instructors of such Indian children in English, and it is important that all employees at Indian schools strive to have this association beneficient rather than otherwise.

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The best teaching of Indian pupils to form an English-speaking vocabulary must follow the fundamental law of mental action, which is well illustrated by the first words that a mother teaches her child, mamma," "papa," "spoon," etc. In teaching the word "spoon' the mother places the spoon in the child's hand and says spoon." The child sees, feels, and hears the name of the object simultaneously. By repetition of these experiences the idea becomes fixed, and afterwards the child is able to recall the image by any one of the above sensations. The next step is to teach the child to recognize the written or printed name of the object by associating the written or printed name with the real object, which is the beginning of teaching the child to read. Action words may be taught in the same way; that is, by performing the act and naming it at the same time. By this method the child is taught to think, to speak, to read, and to write in English.

The great stress during the Indian child's first few years in school must be placed on giving him a good speaking vocabulary in English. The greatest factor in obtaining such a vocabulary is interest, for the mind always sets to work upon the thing in which it is interested.

Some children are eye-minded, some ear-minded, some muscularminded, and still others are vocal-minded. The more factors called into play in the mastery of a word, the more quickly will that word be learned.

One of the principal aims in education is to have the child acquire useful habits and to create in him a desire to follow these habits after the so-called "school days" are over. The following are a few of the many valuable habits that the child should form in reading:

(a) Though getting.

(b) Thought giving and good expression in oral reading.

(c) Selecting the best reading material.

(d) Desire to read for profit and pleasure.

(e) Love for and enjoyment of the world's best literature. Characteristics of good stories for children:

Few characters.

Simple plot.

Rapid action.

Good climax.

Suitable vocabulary.
Repetition.

Rhythm.

Rich in imagery.
Good moral.

True to life.

Does it touch the heart of the child by appealing to his imagi

nation, by arousing his emotions, by suggesting and reviving his own experiences?

Does it pentrate his world of make-believe by making those things which are not alive become alive, active, and do things?

Does it deal with everyday objects of the everyday world? Does it treat of his objects of fancy; i. e., personifying plants, flowers, trees, buildings, stumps, sticks, stones, sun, moon, stars, water, fire, etc.?

Is the story the result of a certain line of work; is it the beginning of a definite plan of work, or is it appropriate to the seasonable climatic conditions or the principal thought of the day.

Teachers should keep the following aim in reading constantly before them: In the shortest time possible to develop in the pupil the power to get the thought and feeling of the writer and, if called on to do so, to convey them to any audience in an intelligent manner.

Teachers should become familiar with and enjoy a selection before they attempt to teach it.

Bring out the thought by asking questions beginning with when, who, how, what, where.

Master a definite method of teaching reading in and above the third grade, as well as below this grade.

Interest pupils in home reading, and judiciously guide them in their selection of good books.

Create a love for good literature.

Encourage pupils to read for pleasure and for profit.

Teach pupils how to determine whether a story is or is not good. Pupils should be required to answer all questions in complete sentences when English is the prime object of the exercise.

Teachers should make a careful study of the method of teaching and telling stories to children.

Have a definite plan for teaching picture-study lessons. Do not ramble.

To get originality and individuality in English the teacher should keep his hands off and his tongue tied while each pupil tells his own seeing, feeling, imagining, and thinking, though the teacher may later trim the flame which he has caused by kindling the fire with live coals.

Pupils should be given both oral and written spelling as each has its particular value.

Have a definite plan to develop industrial vocabularies.

Keep complete lists of the different words taught in first, second, and third grades.

Be sure you add at least two new words a day to the child's vocabulary. Keep a list of the new words.

Poor spelling is one of the greatest reproaches of present-day American schools. It has therefore been necessary of late to devote special attention in most schools to this fundamental work, even in high schools, colleges, and universities. This should sufficiently attest the need for some special attention here.

Spelling can be made interesting. Motive can be given to the spelling lessons when the child wants to tell something in written form, but can not until he first learns how to spell and write the words.

Interest should be aroused in the spelling of the names of common things by gathering them around some known center; the members of the family must be clothed and fed, so the child may learn to spell the things a little child wears or eats.

In one week may be used the names of things found in the kitchen; in another week those in the dining room; and still another the things in the living room, etc., until the whole house, the grounds, the barn, and the daily activities have become points of interest around which words are clustered.