The Meaning of Education

The Meaning of Education BY E. G. PETERSON, A. M., PH. D., UTAH AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

III. —Farming and Home Making Many things are contributing to convince the world that the "Mormon" Pioneers deserve a place in the history of civilization second to none. Indeed, very rapidly they are coming to occupy that place, and Brigham Young, aside from the spiritual and moral leadership which his work represented, is coming to be looked upon as the industrial giant of modern America. He preached sound temporal doctrine. He was, in addition to being the church leader, an agriculturist, a road builder, a builder of canals and cities, and an economist of wonderful soundness. One of the striking manifestations of his genius and his inspiration was his attitude toward farming and home-making. He realized that the welfare of the state permanently depends upon the success of its agriculture and the soundness of its home life. He permanently strengthened Utah when he insisted upon many of the strongest men and women (strong in mind, body and character), the real pillars of the structure of state he was building, going to various parts of the state and building up the agriculture of the various communities. Anyone who has traveled throughout Utah has noticed the striking character of many of the leading men and women. They represent the best blood in the state and many of them, or their fathers and mothers, were called to their work by the great "Mormon" leader. This is the history of St. George, of Kane County, of the great San Juan country, of the Uintah Basin, Sevier county, Carbon and Emery counties, Piute and Iron counties, and the Bear Lake section, as well as practically all the important settlements close in. I could call the names of hun- dreds who are thus located, and who give to Utah a leadership in its rural life not possessed by any other state, to my knowledge, in

the nation. Brigham Young realized a half century before the American nation as a whole realized it, the fundamental relationship between agriculture and the home on one side, and the prosperity and gen- eral welfare of the state and nation on the other. It was among

his plans to develop what later the nation established in each state, an Agricultural college. The nation and the state just now are carrying out Brigham Young's idea of training and equip- ping men and women for success in the pursuits of agriculture and home-making. The farmer and the mother in the home after all are the

806 IMPROVEMENT ERA two units in our society upon which practically all else depends. And their occupations, their professions, are the most difficult and the most important and critical in all the list of occupations of man. The man who tills the soil intelligently must be a well- developed man mentally and in those attributes of character which produce dependability, devotion, and charitable and broad-minded citizenship. A knowledge of the science of the soil is a life's work itself; the art of farming is as elevated in its demands as the art which inspires pictures or music. A knowledge of animal breed- ing, care and management, demands a quality of intelligence some- times greater than that demanded by the relatively simple pro- fessions of medicine, law or banking. The control of animal and plant diseases which every farmer has to combat demands con- stant study and attention. The commercial enterprise demanded in the proper organization and administration of farming as a business, is of a very high order. And most emphatically it must be said that only those farm- ers who have such intelligence and such knowledge and training (they may have received it by self culture or at college) are suc- ceeding and holding their lands. The others are very surely becom- ing hired men. The modern demands are such that the farmer must be prepared. And here is one of the inspiring things about Utah. Already many of the strongest blood strains in the state are en- gaged in farming. Utah's problem is not the problem of many other states of building up the character of the rural population. Brigham Young prevented such rural decay as is now prevalent in many parts of the nation. So Utah needs only equip her sons with the knowledge of modern science and she is in a position to equal if not surpass all states in developing agriculture to a high plane. Home-making is a profession more exacting than any other activity of human beings. And how blessed is Utah because of her women. But we should and do realize that a new day has dawned in the world, and it lays especially upon the mothers new responsibilities. It is for the daughters and granddaughters of the pioneer women that the new day has its message. Wehave been^ blessed with recently discovered knowledge of foods, diets, nursing, child welfare, care of the sick, sanitation of the home,' and with new appreciation of the value of art in the home, home management, the right books, decoration, and home economies of labor and time: The home is where the child is trained poorly or well to a degree which makes the future of the child in a large measure dependent upon the mother's fitness to rear and teach. Wise mothers in the home are worth more in citizen making than all other devices for education combined. We must have intelli- gent mothers or we cannot have enlightened children. The train- ing of its women is the most important educational task confront- ing the state. And this training should be definitely and positive-

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THE MEANING OF EDUCATION 807

ly practical, designed to prepare the young women in the proper rearing of families. No elaborate culture in painting, music, the extremes of literary interpretation, and the intricacies of mathe- matics or the classics, can ever supplant the constant demands upon the mother for a knowledge of how to rear a child properly. Women's education should include all that it is possible to include. Mathematics and literary interpretation, these are all well but should, if possible, be added to and not allowed to supplant the other necessary things. The successful rearing of a family is the beginning and the end of our temporal existence. How import- ant that its great responsibilities should be understood and the many natural laws effecting it mastered. The training of men in the details of the large conceptions of agriculture, and of women in the details and the ideals of home life, is just as much education as is training in languages, mathe- matics, Greek and Latin literature, and the other so-called stand- ardized material. And the results of such training produce cul- ture just as emphatically as any other training. Mastery in these new fields demands equal if not superior mentality and indeed a ;

greater degree of devotion and spiritual enlightenment goes with the men who till the soil and the women who fulfil well the divine obligation of motherhood.

The Tramp (A Character Study

BY TOHN LAURENCE MCMASTER

High priest of idleness; knight of the wayside; Child of the wanderlust; unbidden guest; Diner al fresco and king of the free ride; Living exponent of perpetual rest. Tenant of box car and abstracted tinders; Master of misfit and unfit to boot; Grimed with the dust of the road and its cinders; Tailored with rags and the discarded suit, Unwilling wielder of buck-saw or hand-ax; Trial of the bailiff and thrifty housewife; Self-possessed owner of orchards and haystacks; Nonchalant type of the "don't worry" life. Scorner of soap and the shave and its glory; Artist in fiction and low "Thankee, Mum;" Author relator of true hard-luck story "Couldn't get work 'n that's why I'm a bum." Flotsam and jetsam on life's passing river; Weary and wandering, clouted and clout; Butt of the jester and scorn of the giver; First and always a real down-and-out. Unkempt, unclean, and a bundle of tatters; Vagabond, beggar, low riffraff, and scamp; Yet to the love of God even he matters And he our brother is, though but a tramp. Selected