History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 125

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146

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In November, 1908, it was planned to open a new school of agriculture at the Agricultural College. The institution thus far had been too much of an agri- cultural college in name only. It was really a literary institution, because agricul- tural studies had not received the attention intended by the Morril Act, and this was a movement to place the studies in agriculture where they at last would be taught in earnest. The plan was to train both boys and girls for the farm in every particular, the boys for work in the soil and girls for work in the house-

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hold. Dr. A. A. Brigham, of Maryland, was made dean of the new school, and Miss Jessie Hoover, of Topeka, Kansas, was made preceptress of the department. At this time Dr. Robert L. Slagle was president of the Agricultural College. Thus in 1908 the Agricultural College of South Dakota began offering at last to young men and women practical education in farming through short courses and other methods. Already the studies were popular and the classes were crowded with students. The instruction in special crop raising and in stock judging was excellent and appreciated. The institution took up the problem of hog cholera in January, 1909. Senator Curtis introduced in the United States Senate a resolution calling upon agricultural colleges to undertake the work being performed by the Bureau of Animal Industry in the immunization of hogs from cholera. At this time Doctor Slagle said the Agricultural College had two hogs that had been rendered immune from cholera attacks.

In 1908 State Superintendent Hans A. Ustrud began a concerted movement to build up and improve the rural schools along more practical lines. He favored the well-known consolidation of the districts where several pupils were employed and where high school facilities could be obtained. He favored the transportation of all children to the schools at public expense. His principal object was to educate the country children at their homes, give them the studies needed in their occupations and keep them on the farms. He prepared an elab- orate lecture on this subject and accompanied it with illustrations. During the spring and summer of 1908 he delivered this illustrated lecture to about twenty- five thousand teachers, superintendents, directors and patrons in all parts of the state. His stereopticon views illustrated all phases of school management. Par- ticularly he showed better schoolhouses, schoolrooms, chairs and other equip- ment. He also showed how the schoolyards could be made attractive, how the playgrounds should be arranged for convenience and use generally, and how many attractions as well as improvements could be added to the rural schools. At this time there were about four thousand rural schools in the state, and less than five hundred in all the towns and cities. The school census of the state in 1905 showed 138,695 children of school age, and in 1908 showed 152,846 chil- dren of school age.

It was still a fact in January, 1909, that young men and women of South Dakota were leaving the state to secure their collegiate education. The old feel- ing that had existed since territorial days to the effect that higher institutions of learning in South Dakota were not sufficiently efficient to give a broad education still clung mildly to the university and agricultural college. The normal schools were well spoken of at this time, but it was thought that the university at Ver- million and the agricultural college at Brookings should be the centers of educa- tional activity in the state, because the two institutions at this time, all things con- sidered, were probably as efficient as similar institutions of other neighboring states. The university was well situated at the City of Vermillion; the campus comprised 100 acres and was surrounded by large trees and cement sidewalks. Five large buildings occupied different points on the campus and all were lighted with electricity and heated with steam. University Hall was three stories high and was used for offices, library and auditorium. East Hall furnished the home for seventy-five young ladies who at this time were attending the university. Science Hall was built of pressed brick and was a fine structure and a credit to

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the state. The armory contained a large drill hall, gymnasium, indoor running track, besides bathrooms, restrooms, offices, etc. The new law structure was one of the finest public buildings in the state. It was new and was dedicated February 2, 1909. In January, 1909, the enrollment at the university was 425. At this time the university embraced: (1) The College of Arts and Sciences, including departments of education and art and the School of Commerce; (2) College of Law; (3) College of Music; (4) College of Medicine; (5) College of Engi- neering. Instruction in athletics was well advanced in the institution.

State Superintendent Ustrud in 1909 made great efforts to attract the young men and women of the state to the Agricultural College. He showed in his lec- tures how great had been recent improvement in the conditions of farm life.

In 1909 the school population of South Dakota was 160,526. In May there were in South Dakota a total of thirty-seven consolidated schools. During this year, boys' corn-growing contests were one of the popular features in the state. Professor Holden, the great corn authority of the Iowa Agricultural College, came to Brookings and showed there what had been done to improve corn condi- tions in Iowa. Governor Vessey addressed the audience on this occasion, and many educators and agriculturists were present to hear the corn king explain his methods.

It came to be recognized by 1909 more than ever before that women should be broadly and thoroughly educated, because within their care was placed the proper training of children. It was declared that she should have sufficient time to devote to this important duty. It was believed that the right of suffrage would assist women by making them more assertive and independent, more pro- gressive in thought and method. No one disputed now that every opportunity that would the better fit her for the training of children should be given woman. Men teachers had decreased from 41 per cent in 1870 to 22 per cent in. 1907 in the public schools of the state. It was asked, "Can a woman be a good teacher if she is a slave and is crushed down?" Domestic science in the home was argued as an important step in the advancement of woman as an instructor of children. It was believed to be just as important in the home as progressive agriculture was on the farm. Prof. A. E. Chamberlain, superintendent of farmers' institutes, took the position that there should be branches of farmers' institutes devoted wholly to the instruction of women. Thus far in the history of the state such steps had been discouraged, owing more to the unsettled condi- tion than to any other. Accordingly the institutes thus far had been conducted almost wholly for the benefit of the men, with the idea of aiding them in farming methods and knowledge. Now, however, a great difference had suddenly arisen. Women of the rural districts needed superior education as one of the necessary steps to the intellectual advancement of rural children. However, when this subject was first broached the women of the rural districts were as hesitating about accepting instruction in domestic science from colleges as their husbands had been and were to accept agricultural instruction from such institutions. The Department of Agriculture at this time suggested that counties should or- ganize specially for the teaching of domestic science to farmers' wives and fami- lies. The great importance of pure food, sanitation, home creameries, etc., were duly presented to the people. Children should be instructed in all of this work. They could not be unless the parents knew enough to instruct, and no parent at

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this time was sufficiently advanced along modern and scientific lines to give the necessary instruction. In all parts of the country vocational training was the growth of a few recent years. Thus rural education within a short time had departed forever from the classical style and had become or was becoming largely vocational and practical.

In December, 1908, the South Dakota Educational Association appointed a committee to investigate the subject of teaching sociology in the public schools. The members of this committee were as follows: President Gault, of the State University ; Pres. H. K. Warren, of Yankton College; President Nash, of the Aberdeen Normal; Professor Cook, of the Spearfish Normal; Professor French, of Huron College ; Superintendent Byers, of Vermillion ; Superintendent Ransom, of Mitchell; Mr. Seymour, of Lake Preston; Mr. Parsons, of Watertown; Mr. Lugg, of Parkston, and Mr. Brown, of Mitchell. This whole movement was cordially supported by R. O. Richards, who declared that the objects of the public should be the moral, technical and practical training of children. In 1909 the State Teachers' Association, instead of holding their session in December, as formerly, changed the time to November, and in that month assembled in the City of Lead. There was a large attendance and many interesting exercises were conducted.

There went the rounds of the press in South Dakota in 1909 comments which severely criticised the public school system. This seemed to be the culmination of many years of rural opinion. In a measure, it was brought out by an account of the meeting of the National Educational Association in Denver a short time before. The numerous papers read on that occasion revealed the unmistakable note of discontent with the existing educational system. Educators on that occasion noted that teachers no less than parents recognized the fact that the American school system, while sound in principle, was neither sound nor desir- able in practice. One of the educators at the Denver convention expressed the prevailing sentiment in a neat epigram when he said that "a preparatory course to the presidency was not the object of the public school system." Some of the boys were going to be laborers, mechanics, artisans, farmers, and what not. Not all of them could become President. It seemed reasonable, therefore, that these boys should be given in school the things that would be useful to them in after- life, instead of trying to make possible Presidents of all of them. The practical nature of the age and utilitarian tendencies of modern civilization demanded something more than mere elevation of culture. The grade schools were devel- oped to prepare youth for the high schools. The high schools, in turn, were closely articulated with colleges and the universities, and the latter two aimed mainly at culture, with scarcely a thought or glance at practical and useful occu- pation. It was agreed that it was well to have such higher institutions, but that the fact should not be ignored that the great mass of school children finished their education without either high school, academy or university courses; there- fore far more attention should be given to the studies, management and practical character of the schools where the great majority of children assembled for instruction. This procedure did not place an impediment in the progress of the higher institutions of learning. It merely as an additional movement for educa- tion assisted the farmers' children to secure an education suited for their walk in life.

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At the close of 1907 there were in South Dakota 5,358 teachers, of whom 1,010 were in the cities and the others in the country districts. At the State Teachers' Association in November, 1909, a prize was offered to the county that should have present the most teachers, superintendents, principals, common teachers and graded teachers. At this session there were considered the five following important subjects: (1) High school courses of study; (2) units of elementary instruction; (3) demarkations of the spheres of work of the higher educational institutions ; (4) denominational or private schools of secondary and collegiate rank; (5) public libraries instead of city authorities to have control of school boards. At this session a committee to raise funds for a statue of W. H. H. Beadle, the father of the public school system, was appointed. The following year General Beadle posed for his statue before the sculptor at Sioux Falls. The sculptor was H. D. Webster, who performed the work under the authority of the State Educational Association. In January, 1910, there were 391 teachers in the high schools of the state; forty-three schools employed city superintendents at an average salary of $1,380 per year. January 21, 1910, was called "Beadle Day" in all the educational institutions in the state. That day was devoted to raising funds for his statue and to making known what he had done for the public schools.

In August, 1910, the educators of the state assembled at Huron to formulate a report on changes in the school system to be submitted to the State Teachers' Association, which was scheduled to meet at Huron in November following. It was planned to revise the entire educational system. State Superintendent Ustrud said, "We have felt for some time that the school system is not what it should be. There is a waste of money, energy and a failure to get value received for the expenditures. By reorganization of the system upon business principles, we hope to obtain better results and to avoid the leakage in effort and money."

At the meeting of the Teachers' Association in November, there were present over one thousand persons. To all teachers present there were submitted for preliminary consideration booklets which specified the proposed changes. A. H. Bigelow was president of the committee of school officers who prepared these pamphlets. On this occasion it was announced that a total of $4,600 had been raised for the statue of General Beadle; this exceeded the cost of the statue by about two thousand dollars. Pierre was chosen as the next place of meeting of the association, and C. W. Swanson was elected the new president. Present at this session was Prof. P. P. Caxton, of the University of Tennessee, who delivered an able address. Other prominent speakers were State Superintendent H. A. Ustrud and Dr. R. L. Slagle, of the agricultural college. Prof. George M. Smith served as chairman of the committee on resolutions.

At this meeting of the association the following resolutions were passed : (I) Appreciating the efforts of the legislative committee in formulating a new educational code; (2) noting that the great demand of the hour was the improve- ment of the rural schools, with consolidation as one of the most promising move- ments; (3) making important changes in high school courses, the plan being to keep them near the people and to make them the poor man's college; (4) eliminat- ing all schools and educational institutions from politics; (5) carrying into effect an up-to-date system of ethical and moral training; (6) favoring the suppression of the liquor traffic and the passage of an option law; (7) favoring suffrage

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to woman; (8) providing that appropriations of public funds for educational institutions should be restricted to those controlled by the state; (9) urging the Government to assist the national bureau of education; (10) "We believe that the ideas of education are changing; that the ideas of past centuries are not adapted to the demands of the present day. We therefore believe that the introduction of industrial and vocational training into secondary and higher schools is a necessity; that both state and nation should make the appropriations needed to introduce into these schools such instruction as will tend to bring agricultural methods to the highest efficiency ;" (II) carrying into effect the plan that the education of girls should be differentiated from that of boys; that they should be taught domestic economy, child psychology and the duties of wife and mother; (12) declaring that no more dreadnaughts should be built, but that the money should be spent on education.

By 1910 the leasing of school land had greatly increased. Better prices were secured for individual leases than from other sources. One year leases were the rule. Five-year leases were slowly becoming popular for agricultural and graz- ing purposes. The sales of endowment lands did not reach the average price paid for other school lands. However, large tracts of endowment land in Mc- Pherson, Marshall and Edmunds counties brought an average of $20 per acre. Marshall County averaged $23 per acre, McPherson, $16 per acre; and Edmunds over twenty-five dollars per acre. In November, 1910, there were over six thou- sand teachers and about one hundred and seventy thousand children of school age in the state. All cost nearly four million dollars annually.

In the spring of 1911 the commission for completing the course of study for the elementary schools of the state, finished its work. The principal changes were in grammar and arithmetic. Cube root and foreign exchange were cut out entirely from the grade work and put in the high school work. Other old features were eliminated in like manner. United States history as a separate study was cut out of the lower grade, though certain features were retained. A course of home economics was adopted for the sixth and seventh grades. This was an important change, because it simplified the work of the small scholars.

At the legislative session of 1911, Aberdeen made every effort in its power to secure for that city a normal school that could confer degrees and would be- come one of the prominent state educational institutions. Those who opposed it declared that the institution would be nothing more than a high school for Aberdeen. For this reason the city openly maintained that it desired a state institution, one that would correspond in every way with the Madison Normal and the Springfield Normal. It was declared at this time, and, in fact, was openly stated by the members of the Legislature, that the object of Aberdeen was to secure an educational institution that could be transformed at a later date into a second state university, or a second agricultural college, and that for this reason the industrial feature was added to the normal department in the bill.

A recent law provided that ethics should be taught in the common schools, and by July, 1911, a text-book covering the subject had already been adopted. The committee appointed by the State Board of Education had recommended that ethics be taught in the common schools, and this recommendation was ac- cordingly acted upon by the Legislature which passed a law to that effect. How- ever, the course was not generally taught, because in the rural districts the need

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of it was not felt. The plan of the course was to teach with emphasis, honesty, sobriety, patriotism, good citizenship, truthfulness, etc. "Moral instruction in- tended to impress on the minds of pupils the importance of truthfulness, temper- ance, public spirit, patriotism, respect for honest labor, obedience to parents, and due deference to old age, shall be given by every teacher in the public service of the state."-Section 2358, Laws of South Dakota, 1911. Notwithstanding this law these subjects were not specially taught. It was another attempt of the edu- cational authorities to engraft upon the common schools a course of study that was not appreciated nor wanted, because in the rural district it was not needed- was almost wholly out of place. .

In the spring of 1911, Dean Perisho delivered a popular lecture on "Cen- tralizcd Township Schools," at several places in the eastern part of the state. He described how the people of a township could centralize their schools, place their little pupils in primary grades with the teacher devoting all her time to them, with an intermediate grade having the same advantages; and how the seventh and eighth grades could thus secure all of one teacher's time and effort. He explained how a one or a two-year high school course could be put on as soon as the school was ready. Thus pupils of the rural districts would have the advantage of secondary education without going away from home. Wherever he spoke there was much enthusiasm concerning the establishment of higher classes in the local schools. He brought out fully the transportation problem, and showed how completely it could be handled at light cost and with much added comfort and help to the pupils. Wherever he went the sentiment seemed strong for the establishment of such centralized township schools. In 1911 there was a great shortage throughout the entire United States of competent teachers in scientific agriculture. The State College at Brookings received a letter from the United States Department of Agriculture asking for the names of recent gradu- ates who might be available to teach agriculture in high schools and offering a salary of $1,000 to $1,500 per year for beginners. At this time the members of the last year's class of different agricultural colleges were offered fancy salaries in the schools of Iowa and Minnesota. There was a great demand for instruc- tion in progressive agriculture. Generally there was a demand that the science of agriculture should be given a separate and exhaustive course in the colleges and universities.

In 1911 Hon. A. E. Hitchcock, of Mitchell, a member of the State Board of Regents, took the position that all normal schools should be kept within their scope and not be permitted to do college work. He found upon examination that the Spearfish and Springfield normals were doing at state expense, the work of high schools for those two cities, and that a large number of the students at the Aberdeen and Madison normals were really high school students likewise taking courses at the state's expense. He stated that the total number of gradu- ates trained to teach school, from the four normals in 1910, was 168, and that the total expense of operating the four schools for the year was $171,000, or an average of more than one thousand dollars for each graduate. As but 146 of the 168 took only one year of real normal work, it followed that it cost the state $1,000 to give each of the normal graduates a year's training. He pointed out that the same results could be secured at a cost of $200 each, if the state should Vol. III-57

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send the normal students one year to a private college to secure similar instruc- tion, and that thereby $175,000 each year could be saved to the state.

In May, 1911, the third revision of the course of study in elementary schools was completed by an authorized commission of county superintendents. This revision is now (1915), in use in all rural and village schools as well as in nearly all of the city schools. It greatly helped in reaching the level of higher ideals, but fell far short of actual rural necessities and requirements. Other revisions were planned to follow rapidly until all objectionable and ineffectual methods and studies should be cut out and every available new method should be intro- duced and put in practice. It did not follow that because the teaching of scien- tific agriculture should preponderate in the rural schools, the city schools, there- fore, or' the schools of higher education anywhere should be slighted or neglected. Just the reverse. Since agriculture is the basis of all prosperity in the United States, the study of agriculture should be at least one of the vital bases of educa- tion at every school in the land. This does not mean that special courses for the professions or trades may not be introduced, pursued and perfected. In fact such courses should be provided, because the business of the country is greatly diversified and requires specialization and therefore educational courses should be broad enough to provide adequate boundaries for the instruction of every person.

In 19II, rural schools in the state to the number of 245 had less than six months' session in each school year. Six months was the lowest limit allowed by law, the average term of all rural schools being 7.2 months. In towns the average was about nine months. However, as higher taxes were levied in the towns, they were therefore entitled to longer terms than the rural schools, but were not entitled to special appropriations from the state. On the other hand, there were many rural school districts where the tax was as high as in any town and where the schools had as long terms as those in the city.

At the Canton conference several years before it was suggested how probably the high schools could be vastly improved along modern lines. Two years later the school movement inaugurated at Mitchell still further perfected the work of the Canton conference. One object was the establishment of a proper and practical centralization of all the schools in each county. It is true that con- solidated schools are not yet practical in all parts of the state. In many counties the population is so scarce that they are out of the question. In the more thickly settled portions consolidated schools are not only practical, but have become a necessity, if the scholastic welfare and advancement of the rural children are the first consideration. There were in the state in 1911-12, 700 schools, each with ten pupils or less enrolled, or with less than six average attendance. This made the per capita cost very high comparatively. Nearly all of these schools can be consolidated and should be. During 1911-12 the state superintendent held four public conferences with the county superintendents of the state on the important question of improving the country schools.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 125

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1146

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146