Henry Baird Favill, AB, MD, LL.D., 1860-1916, a ... - University Library

374 HENRY BAIRD FAVILL
of correction. I have no idea that simply adapting the
course of instruction to practical agricultural subjects will
solve the difficulty. Important as it is — and I regard it
as an indispensable factor in the process — it will at best
furnish information. The perfection with which this is
done will make the determining step more certain and
valuable, but the determining step will none the less be
needed.
And what is this step in which I seem to have such
confidence? Socialization of the school,— an inadequate
phrase, perhaps, but a text. Cities and towns have many
social devices, the country few. We are saying a great deal
of late about giving the young people in the country more
social latitude. They need it, but our suggestions easily
become forced and artificial and in so far doomed to fail.
The school is a natural center, organized, financed, and
recognized. It can be made the clearing-house for the
community intelligence — not for men or women or children,
but for all; the place where youthful eagerness can
meet and interact and in turn react upon the mature powers
of the neighborhood; the place where information can be
transformed and vitalized into knowledge, to the end that
impression may become conviction. Only so can we mitigate
the waste of time and expense and life that is inherent
in our present methods.
All the precept in the world, even
if followed, is not effective until life has ground it into our
fiber. Need we always expend the most of life before we
have fully incorporated our opinions?
Is there not a better
social organization to be conceived that will avoid this
waste? Once more we fall back upon our school system
to save the situation. There is no other place to look.
Once more we are face to face with the weakness of our
machinery. Is it sound to look to the school system for
relief? At present, no; as an ultimate achievement, yes. If,
in a generation, that can come to pass, it will be a triumph.
Administrative function most readily follows demonstration.