Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1917 — SCHOOL GARDENING NOT FAD [ARTICLE]

SCHOOL GARDENING NOT FAD

Tendency in Some Quarters Not to Regard New Development Seriously Is Decried.

The federal biirmiti of education of the department of the interior has issued a pamphlet, “Gardening inTElementary City Schools,” which covers the progress and prospects of school gardening. The testimony presented by school officials from cities of more than 5.000 population in all parts of the country indicates that while gatden w<)i'k is offered in the schools of about four hundred cities and enthusiastically praised by the school officials of these cities, there is still a tendency in some quarters to regard it merely as another educational fad. This it certainly is not. The United States is still an agricultural country, and the teaching of gardening brings the schools at one point closer to the real business of the “country than anything else taught, says the Indianapolis News. - But of jeourse there must be some "system about teaching gardening. The Tfafural desire for a garden must'be cultivated and conserved, sq that-the transition from play to work can be accomplished This is the problem of the educators. Many cities have complained that they cannot get good teachers to undertake the work. The school authorities will have to cultivate teachers as the children cultivate their gardens—that is. if they are to meet the demfind. For it appears from the government report that school gardening has won its place. It has developed the home, garden under. school super vision, and this has proved not only Its educational worth, but also.its economic worth.