Under these circumstances, if the few are educated, the
work will go successfully on; while here, our agricultural education
ought to reach the great body of those who labor upon the land. Will a
college in each state answer the demand for agricultural education now
existing? Is it safe in any country, or in any profession or pursuit, to
educate a few, and leave the majority to the indirect influence of the
culture thus bestowed? And is it philosophical, in this country, where
there is a degree of personal and professional freedom such as is
nowhere else enjoyed, to found a college or higher institution of
learning upon the general and admitted ignorance of the people in the
given department? or is it wiser, by elementary training and the
universal diffusion of better ideas, to make the establishment of the
college the necessity of the culture previously given? Every new school,
not a college, makes the demand for the college course greater than it
was before; and the advance made in our public schools increases the
students in the colleges and the university. We build from the primary
school to the college; and without the primary school and its
dependents,--the grammar, high school, and academy,--the colleges would
cease to exist. This view of education supports the statement that an
agricultural college is not the foundation of a system of agricultural
training, but a result that is to be reached through a preliminary and
elementary course of instruction.
Pages:
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311