Rocky Mountain College - Yellowstone / Poly Yearbook (Billings, MT)

Page 29 text:

U Manual Training Department Not u11til the last decade l1as n1anual tiaining beco111e a recognized factor a1no11g the industrial institutio11s of the COLl1l'E1'y. Tl1e work generally consisted of many of the de- tailed branches of wood carxiing, etc. Tl1e boy wl1o can be trained to use his hands equally as well as l1is brain, has already laid tl1e fOl.l1lCl21lIlO1l of a successful career. Tl1e aim of the I11stitute is to give the boys a general k11owledge of tl1e ll1lClC1'lyl11g' principles of several trades. More and more are scl1ools throughout tl1e Northwest coming to a greater realization of the need of a practical training. Here tl1e tl1ougl1t l1as been to give tl1e boy a trade training, to 111ake all otl1er branches aid toward giving l1i111 a11 education which will make him of immediate use to both himself a11d his employer. Tl1e Polytechnic is seeking to solve a great problem. Tl1e old idea of tr-ying to force upon tl1e stude11t tl1e cut a11d dried theories of the impractical, llZ1S lOllg been disregarded. XYe offer as a substitute a practical course which XYIIGII completed will send the boy back to tl1e farm equipped with the fundamental principles tl1at te11d toward a useful existence. Tl1e shop work C1lllJ1'3.C6S ge11eral repair woik, drafting, mechanical drawing, and woodwork. During the entire year all of tl1e general repair work on the farm a11d around the Institute has been do11e largely by the shop. students. Drafting composed the greater part of tl1e first Semester's class work. Those taking up classes in woodwork are hrst required to make sketches and drawings of tl1e article to be made. In this way a knowledge is gained as to construction a11d size of various ar- ticles. Those taking up Electrical Engineering are first given Elemental Machine Draw- ing. The work consists of bolt study, right and left-hand threads, etc. Classes in archi- tectural drawing are also given for those wishing that phase of work. One wing of the basement of our New Shop and Industrial Hall was erected by the boys during the past summer. This serves temporarily for the use of the shop classes. New machinery has been installed, consisting of band saws, turning lathes, joints and planes. The completion of the main building is looked forward to for the coming summer. -27-

Page 28 text:

THE POLY practices will soon be superseded by others radically different and the old information will be practically worthless. But while all this is necessary, the broader and more human side of agriculture must not be forgotten. The farmer is not only a toiler, a tiller of the soil, he is moreg he is a member of society, and as such, possesses certain privileges and owes certain duties which are entirely outside the province of his vocation. Therefore he should be given the chance to obtain that broader training without which the best and most evenly balanced develop- ment is impossible. Nearly everyone, when about to choose the profession or occupation to which he is about to devote his energies and faculties, looks first at the opportunity or opportunities which the various callings afford. Tn agriculture there are at least three different lines from which a choice may be made. These three are: the actual pursuit of farming, the teaching of agriculture in high schools or colleges, and the Civil Service or government work. The criticism is often made that the boy educated in an agricultural school does not often return to the farm because there are no opportunities there. This may have been true in the past, but in the future it will not be true. It is coming to be recognized more and more that the farm as a purely business proposition affords as great opportunities as are found in any other line of business. In the old days, which have passed away forever, farming was not a capitalized business, and the owner of a farm seemed content with obtain- ing a fairly comfortable living. But all that is rapidly changing and at the present time the business methods used by the managers of the great mercantile houses are being used for the management of farms with successful results. Then, too, the increasing number of tracts of land taken up by individuals or corporations, not for speculation but for culti- vation. as a business investment, show that farming is at last coming into its own. Another criticism sometimes heard is that if the back to the land movement is al- lowed to continue, there will soon be an overproduction of the agricultural products which will result in great loss to the entire agricultural industry. But if one pauses to think a moment, he will see that such a catasprophe is impossible. If the rate of increase in popu- lation continues the same as it has been in the last hundred years, by the end of the next century we should have at least twelve hundred millions of people here in the United States, and unless the agricultural production increases in proportion, we must either move or starve. This increase in production will not necessarily mean a greatly increased area, but rather greater yields from the area already under cultivation. These larger yields can be obtained only through better and more improved methods of tillage. There is, too, an aesthetic side of farming. VVho will deny that the farmer is not blessed far above the city dweller, in that he is free to come and go as he pleases, with the blue sky above him, and the soft grass beneath his feet? He is not shut in by towering walls of brick and stone, and he does not walk on blazing pavements, breathing the fetid, stifling air of the city. He is not called to his work in the moring by a shrieking whistle or clanging bell. and at night be can sink into a peaceful slumber without hearing the con- stant din of the city in his ears. For those who feel that the time and money which they have expended on their edu- cation demand some quicker and more tangible return than could be obtained on a farm, the teaching profession is always open. In the last few years, the demand for teachers of agriculture in high schools and colleges has doubled again and again, and hundreds of schools that have desired to introduce courses in agriculture have not been able to do so because of the lack of available instruction. There always will be a demand for the teacher who is thoroughly conversant with the principles of agriculture, and who knows how to apply them to the problems with which the farmer is constantly coming face to face. Continued on Page One Hundred Thirty-eight 126-

Page 30 text:

Domestic Science Department sa QN VQJ, k E54 . Y V .vp OUR NEW DOMESTIC SCIENCE KITCHEIN Domestic Science, under the supervision of Miss Brown, is the latest course at the Institute, having been added to the curriculum only this year. It is the purpose soon to introduce several courses which will greatly strengthen the work, also advanced work will be offered in Cooking, Household Economics, and Sewing. Cooking is now a three year course, and includes the sources, composition, value, di- gestibility, and proper cooking of foods, the preparation and serving of meals, marketing, fliatetics. and invalid cookery. The practice work is all done in a large, airy Domestic Science Kitchen, well equipped with electric ranges and all other modern appliances. Home Economics includes the planning, furnishing, and care of a home, division of in- come and other kindred topics. The course in Sewing is not yet outlined, but will be a course in which the students are given plain sewing, drafting, dressmaking, embroidery, ex- tensive study of textiles, and the care and cost of clothing. ' The whole course in Domestic Science is based upon the sciences of Chemistry, Phys- ics, Botany, etc., and the student is taught to apply the arts and sciences to every-day life. She is given a practical and theoretical knowledge of these problems, and the character- istics of accuracy, neatness, dexterity, perseverance, and economy are developed. That this course is not only instructive and proving a success, but very interesting as well, is shown by the large number of girls taking it.