--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - D. E. Robinson collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 23 number: 9 published: 1920-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'D. E. Robinson, "A College That Gives Ideas as Well as Ideals," *Improvement Era* 23, no. 9 (July 1920): 843–852.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2309unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2309unse start_page: 843 end_page: 852 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1920-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2309unse publication_year: 1920 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1920, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # A College That Gives Ideas as Well as Ideals DR. ELMER G. PETERSON, PRESIDENT OF THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE OF UTAH / A "College, that Gives Ideas as Well as Ideals By Prof. D. E. Robinson, Utah Agricultural College Every successful educational institution has a distinct per- sonality. It is more than a factory where raw material goes in to be fashioned into the finished product. It consists of build- ings, plus equipment, plus faculty, plus students, plus this elus- ive quality which is the result of the compounding of the above mentioned quantities, and which we call personality. This quality makes an institution a living thing. It characterizes its work and is expressed in its ideals. The Utah Agricultural College possesses this quality of per- sonality in a high degree. To the people of Utah it is a living force standing for the ennobling of labor in life and teaching the value of the united efforts of head and hand in doing the work of the world. The Ideal of the U. A. C. ^ This ideal of the U. A. C. has been vigorously expressed by its president, Dr. E. G. Peterson, in the following words: THE WOMEN'S BUILDING Here instruction is given in all pJiases of women's work as it pertains to the home. The Utah Agricultural College maintains a large summer school offering three months' work. Its popularity is due, in part, to the wonder- ful summer climate of Logan and the beautiful campus. The slogan of the summer school is, "A summer in the U. A. C. is a vacation." The above picture shows a summer scliool class enjoying a period of relaxation pointing to the truth of this slogan. " 'Labor is Life' are the words on the seal of the Agricultural College of Utah. They tell more distinctly than long documents what the College is for and how it does its work. 'Labor is Life' is not a sounding phrase, merely. It is a working rule. It is a rule which puts overalls on the men students and kitchen aprons on the women students. It is a robust philosophy which honors men and women who work with their hands as well as with their minds." The College is a sound embodiment and interpretation of Americanism, because Americanism means equality of opportunity, means recognition of those who deserve by their work; it means honor to those who produce, and deserved lack of honor to those who only consume; it deals with the foundational productive things of life, the farm, the home, the business office, and the shop. It produces the tireless scholarservant, the expert, the skilled farmer, the clear and c'leanvisioned housewife, the office worker and business administrator, the agricultural engineer, and the teacher. It is democracy worked out in education. It calls to its halls not only those leaders who have passed successfully through the discipline of high school, but also those whose lives are so ordered 846 IMPROVEMENT ERA that they cannot go through the regular processes of high school and college but must acquaint themselves quickly with those vocational principles and practices which will make them masters of their trade or profession, whether that be farming, stockraising, mechanical work, business office detail, or the processes of home life. So there are no educational, as there are no social, class distinctions at the College. Workman and scientist toil side by side because each seeks to master in part the knowing and doing of useful things, which is the science and the art of life. The experience of the war and of reconstruction emphasizes particularly the necessity of any young man or woman who expects to measure up to the responsibilities of today realizing the necessity of learning to work, and the equal necessity of adequately preparing for useful work. It is given only to a scant two or three in every hundred of the young men of America to have the opportunity of attending College, and it is given to only a part of each hundred who attend college to perfect themselves in the discipline of real work. Those students who can accommodate themselves to hard and constant labor have done more than is possible in any other way to make themselves great in the years that are to come. Threefold Service of the U. A. C. The Utah Agricultural College is an institution with three ^w r ^r^^'^^mimmmm^^k^ "W* £%§: ••-..., ->^^ ^v^vTlB . ! _3hBMi -^^ THE MAIN BUILDING The view of Cache valley, obtained from the college tower is inspiring. A COLLEGE THAT GIVES IDEAS 847 great instrumentalities for the accomplishment of one great purpose. The central purpose is to dignify labor, to develop farming, to raise and maintain the standards of rural home life, to develop the business and commercial channels of agriculture and other industries. All stated in one phrase to — bring education and science to the necessary industries of the people. So the College has come to be called the College of the Common People because it deals with the common work of the world, agriculture, home making, commerce and the mechanical arts. The three instrumentalities developed by the Utah Agricultural College during the thirty years of its existence are: (1) interior instruction for the preparation of teachers, experts and leaders otherwise, (2) an Experiment Station for the discovery of new truth and the co-ordination and svstematizing of old truth, and (3) an Extension Division for the carrying of all the work of the College to the farmers, housewives and others on their farms and in their homes. Teacher-Training an Important Function One of the most important duties devolving upon the College is to train teachers for the rapidly developing high schools for work in agriculture, home economics and the trades and industries. Training in these subjects demands a large equipment by way of farms, livestock, barns, and laboratories in soils, crop, and animal and plant diseases. This same equipment is The U. A. C. formed by several hundred members of the military organ- ization in training at the U. A. C. The livestock building is in the background. 848 IMPROVEMENT ERA needed for the training of agricultural and home economics experts and experts in the mechanical arts. The College has done more than any other western institution \to develop experts, county agents, and government and state leaders in its lines of work. A large number of graduates and former students have likewise gone into practical farming and more constantly are seeking this avenue for their talent. In all parts of the intermountain West these graduates have gone carrying the message of better agriculture and finer homes. And here is indeed the greatest opportunity for the display of energy and ability. The policy of the early Pioneer leaders in calling many of the strongest of the early settlers to select parts of the State to develop its agriculture has been found to be among the wisest of policies. So now no life is more inviting than that which deals with the soil and with creative things. The earnings of recent years have likewise become very substantial. A farmer in Utah and Idaho today who puts the necessary ability into his work will reap a reward which in many cases surpasses that in the so-called learned professions. The Poor Man's School There is a vast difference between "going to college" and being "sent to college." When the greater part of the student body is "sent" to college you have the rich man's school. When they "go" to college you have the poor man's school. From this viewpoint the Utah Agricultural College is a poor man's school. Its students are going to college. They attend because they have definite purposes in life and realize that they can attain those purposes better if adequately trained. This money value of education has been conclusively proved by the Great War. As a rule failure was ignorance and success knowing how. During the training for that great conflict, they had a slogan, "If you don't know how, vou get killed." No more forceful argument for the value of specific knowledge could be found than that. The educational problem in Utah has been two-fold. It has been necessary to train men and women to do efficiently thp daily task of bread winning in order that a material civilization might be brought out of the desert. It has also been necessarv to prepare the sons and daughters of a new state for true citizenship —to teach ideals as well as ideas. The great success of the Utah Agricultural College is to be attributed in large measure to the fact that its officials have recognized the exact nature of this problem and have fearlessly built to meet it. A COLLEGE THAT GIVES IDEAS 849 Efficient Training Means Efficient Service This two-fold type of education has fitted the graduates of the U. A. C. for efficient service in life. A recent canvass of the Institution revealed this fact in a convincing manner. Reports from graduates selected at random showed, without exception, success is worth while endeavor. A few typical examples will indicate how great this success is. A few months ago a graduate accepted a position with one of the great newspapers of the United States at an annual salary of $10,000. An alumna of the U. A. C. has recently been appointed supervisor in charge of all the high school work in home economics in one of the leading states of the Union. After making a noted success as a scientific farmer running his father's farm, a U. A. C. alumnus bought a run-down estate that was sold at a sacrifice because the owner said it was "no dern good a'tall," and converted it, within two years, into a highly paying proposition. One U. A. C. graduate entered a rural bank in a new community. He entered whole heartedly into the development of the district and, because of his training, became a local leader. Today his community is prosperous and still growing. He is called by his neighbors a rich man. ;.„-.•" During the past year a graduate of the U. A. C. was made president of one of the largest agricultural colleges in the middle west; another was made director of a large agricultural experiment station; another was appointed as first assistant to the federal director of boys and girls' club work in the Nation. U. A. C. students are always in demand. For the past several years more than two lucrative positions have been open to every graduate, and many in the practical courses have been forced to leave school to accept work; so insistent have been the demands for trained men and women. Training in Sixty-three Professions These students were trained for specific positions. This is true not alone of the graduates of the College, but of the short course students. In fact, it is possible to secure specific training of both collegiate and vocational grade in the follow- — ing sixty -three professions and trades: for young women home makers, home economics expert, dietitian, teacher, institutional manager, cafeteria manager, social worker, nurse, dressmaker, milliner, musician, bookkeeper, stenographer, typewriter, accountant, office manager, rural health expert, Smith-Hughes — worker, private secretary; for young men general farmer, 850 IMPROVEMENT ERA practical stock raiser, agricultural expert, soils expert, crops expert, dairy expert, butter and cheese maker, animal husbandman, poultry husbandman, veterinarian, orchardist, range manager, agricultural engineer, expert machinist, iron worker, foundry man, cabinet maker, contractor, banker, salesman, advertising expert, auto mechanic, gas engine expert, tractor expert, draftsman, surveyor, teacher, chemist, physicist, electrician, public health expert, expert accountant, bookkeeper, business ad- THE CHEMISTRY BUILDING Houses the departments of chemistry, bacteriology and physics. This build- ing is typical of the four newer buildings on the campus. ministrator, stenographer, typewriter, office manager, Smith- Hughes worker, bacteriologist, botanist, zoologist, extension worker, private secretary, farm manager. Remarkable Growth in Enrollment That the pepole of the West appreciate the wonderful educational opportunities offered at the Utah Agricultural College appears from the remarkable enrollment at the Institution during the year just closed. According to a report on registration compiled by Registrar P. E. Peterson there were enrolled for 1919-20, 2,305 students. This registration shows a marked increase over the heaviest previous enrollment, in 1916-1917. An analysis of the registration is very significant. There A COLLEGE THAT GIVES IDEAS 851 were 1,503 regular students in attendance as compared with 1,038 for 1916-1917 the last normal year. There were 1,798 regular and special students in residence. The most promising characteristic of the registration last year was the large number of Freshmen in attendance. The Freshman class numbered nearly four hundred members, an increase of over 100 per cent over the large Freshman class of 1915, which had a membership of 189. "This extraordinary growth in the number of Freshmen is the most significant thing about our 1919-1920 registration," says President E. G. Peterson. "A maintenance of this remarkable increase throughout the next few years will mean that the Utah Agricultural College will be giving instruction on its campus to a student body of three thousand within the near future." A Mighty Educational Plant The College has grown in accommodations as it has grown in students. Within the past two years three large brick buildings have been added to its educational plant at an approximate cost of $370,000. These structures are the Livestock Building, The Agricultural Engineering Building, and the Plant Industry Building. They furnish admirable accommodation for the departments of animal husbandry, dairying, poultry husbandry, farm management, range management, veterinary science, surveying, hydraulics, mechanical drawing, architecture, household sanitation, farm mechanics, agronomy, botany, plant pathology and horticulture. The Federal Government bore a large share of the cost of these buildings. In addition, the institution has added other buildings and equipment of importance. The heating plant has been enlarged, a campus lighting system has been installed, and a new water system put in. A modern barn to house the college horses, matching the dairy and sheep barns, has been constructed, and a seed house, where seeds of high pedigree are classified and stored, has been built, and the materials for the construction of the first unit of what will be eventually an eight unit conservatory system have arrived. These additional buildings and improvements have been acquired at a cost of approximately $32,000. The College has purchased or is now purchasing additional farm and campus land. About $25,000 will be expended in this connection. The U. A. C. Plant now comprises over thirty buildings, nine of which are principal structures. A conservative estimate places the value of the buildings and their splendid equipment at about one and one half millions of dollars. Logan, Utah / \ Hi,. ^^A^A" ' 4^ Is %1111IBI ^^^>-^ * JULIAN MOSES In January, 1848, this veteran educator began teaching in his recently-fin- ished log house, covered with willows and earth. The benches were made of split logs, the upper surface smoothed, and had two wooden supports at each end serving as legs. Like schools sprang up in the towns as soon as the people were fairly settled.