Author: William Thompson Skilling

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-06-24

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 9781330114810

Excerpt from Nature-Study Agriculture: A Textbook for Beginners The teaching of agriculture in grades below the high school has become well established in our schools, but opinions still differ as to the aims of the course and as to how the subject should be approached. The aim of an elementary course in agriculture is well stated in a late report of the Iowa State Teachers' Association: "to increase powers of appreciation, to promote general intelligence, to give a basis for the formation of educational ideals and the making of vocational choice, and to develop an appreciation of the possible applications of science to the useful arts." The most logical approach to the subject is through nature study, for the nature-study phase of agriculture, far more than the economic phases, deals with simple realities in the lives of boys and girls. Indeed, it is difficult if not impossible to dissociate the study of agriculture from the study of nature. The manner of presentation is also the subject of most divergent opinions. There are those who contend that farming can be learned only by doing. This suggests the observation that a man might be employed on a farm, carrying out the instructions of another, for a lifetime, yet never come to understand the principles of farming. Similarly, a pupil might raise vegetables in a home-project garden, by simply following the directions on seed packages, and the benefit would be to his health rather than to his understanding. Yet, on the other hand, it is absurd even to think of teaching agriculture through textbook instruction alone. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.