South Dakota State College - Jack Rabbit Yearbook (Brookings, SD)

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r 9 fbi, producing beef for his own and neighbor's table looks very carefully after the feeding of his herd, understands the relative value of different food materials and studies how he may give them in a proper proportion, or as he expresses it, give a balanced ration. These matters are of great importance to the cattle owners and we End them discussed in their papers and conventions. How many mothers give as much time or thought, or have as definite a notion of the proper food for the members of their own families? This sug- gests a wrong emphasis somewhere and no one would question the attitude of the cattle owners. f Some people exist in this world, some live, some live more efficient lives than others. We are not enjoying our full privilege until we lead the most efficient life. How important a factor the home becomes in producing this efficiency, and how responsible the home maker, is a question which will bear thought. Unless we can differentiate between housekeeper and home maker it is not strange that we ask what college girls are study- ing in a course of home economics. With the thought of the importance of the home as a social unit the attempt has been made to make such a selection from the college curriculum as will render a woman intelligent on general matters, and at the same time, for the sphere which is peculiarly hers, give her the freedom and assurance which comes from a knowledge of the forces with which she is to deal. RUTH A- WARDALL, A. B. M. Emri-I THORNBER, B. s Preceptress, Professor of Domestic Science Aggigfqnt in Domestic Science 29

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- Q- ,.- DEPARTMENT OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE. This department is not only one of the oldest in the college, but one of the oldest in the country, a fact interesting to note in tracing the development of the home economics movement in our schools during the last few years. The aim of the department throughout its history has been to turn the attention of our college girls toward the home. The training of girls in our colleges has frequently been criticized, and not a few parents have felt a hesitancy in sending daughters to college, because of a belief that the four years' training brought back a daughter who was not content at home, one who knew nothing of the management of the home, frequently one who prided herself that she knew nothing of any of the household processes or the materials which are handled every day in the home. In some cases this criticism proves true enough. To refute it, however, many good home makers may be found among women who have experienced this college training. College girls used to struggle to be admitted into classes with their brothers,-felt tl1at their school training must be identical, entirely losing sight of the fact that their lives when out of school are very different. If we believe that education should be a prepara- tion for life-for living-it is surely logical to believe that the sort of life to be lived should have a determining voice in the preparation for its living. The college girl need not feel that her mental capacity is questioned because she studies other subjects than her brother studies,-that she wants a training equally thorough and inclusive is quite right. There is just as much of life for the girl to live, and her opportunities for service are quite as great as her brother's are. It is not the intention of this department to train a group of people so that by their very training they form a class distinct and separate from all their fellow workers, peculiar unto themselves, the effort is toward a broad and liberal training. Occasionally expressions are heard which lead us to feel that the real purpose of the department is not under- stood by many people. We are neither training nor looking for housekeepers, maids or cooks as a result of the work here. We hardly feel that such training comes within the province of the college or university. We are working with college girls hoping to see as a result normal, ,well-developed, well-balanced women, with sufficient training and suflicicnt breadth of view to make them useful and happy, wherever their lot may place them. To many persons domestic science suggests a spoon and a saucepan, roasting and boiling, preparing and cooking of food after the most approved methods. If domestic science meant cooking alone it would occupy only a small part of the Held which legiti- mately belongs to it. Less than one-seventh of the total credits required for graduation in the domestic science course come from the department of domestic science. The departments of chemistry, botany, physiology and physics furnish the great elementary truths from which applications of peculiar import to the home are made- A girl who is accurate enough to make her determinations in quantititative chemistry, and careful enough to work out her unknowns in the bacteriological laboratory, has technique, appreciation of detail, and such unfaltering notions of cleanliness as will work good for any home. The languages, history, economics and sociology have a general culture value, as well as specific values which no one questions. The psychologist tells us that environment has a most important influence on the individual. Shall we be satisfied to read the statement in the textbook, and to listen while the enthusiastic artist tries to open our eyes to our surroundings? Has it ever occurred to us that a new piece of furniture, a new picture, or a new wall covering with all their posibilities of beauty and ugliness may be reflected in the family temperament? Believing that a knowledge of the mood value of color, and an appreciation of color harmonies should be cultivated for the sake of the home as well as for the enjoyment of the masterpieces in the art galleries, our girls spend a share of their time in the art department. The question of food is not what shall we have for dinner to-day, or what new dish for to-morrow. Do we know enough of food values to know whether we are sup- plying what is really needed by the body? The man who owns cattle for the sake of 28

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O DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. ENGLISH LITERATURE. The required courses of this department have, as far as possible, been outlined in accordance with the report of the Committee on Entrance Requirements and Courses of Study made to the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experi- ment Stations. In the preparatory department the courses of study seek to give, besides an acquaint- ance with a few English classics, a practical knowledge of grammar and elementary rhetoric. In the college department the required courses aim to give much of the work required for entrance to most colleges, and some of the work usually given in the Fresh- man and Sophomore years. The elective courses are arranged chiefly for those students whose major work is in English. These courses include the history of the English language and its litera- ture, also a study of the various types of prose and verse. Courses are given in Greek and Latin literature Cin Englishj Chaucer and the history of the English languageg the Elizabethan Dramag XVIII Literatureg XIX Poetry, and XIX Prose. In most of the required courses the student has kept before his mind those prin- ciples which he can utilize in composition. He is led to embody in his own writings the qualities of clearness, force and beauty in the writings of the best authors. The laws of thought association, which he discovers by analysis of paragraphs and compositions of good writers, he is required to exemplify in paragraphs and compositions of his own. Much remains to be done in this department before it becomes what it should be. At present the college courses in English are so disconnected and so scattered through- out the entire curriculum that it is impossible to obtain the best results. In conformity with the curricula of most colleges, the required courses in English should come chiefly in the Freshman and Sophomore years, instead of chiefly in the Junior and Senior years, as at present. The requirements in English for the degree of bachelor of science should, the depart- ment believes, be considerably increased. At least as many courses should be required of all candidates for graduation from the S. D. A. C. as are required from the best high schools in this state. . These changes, it is hoped, will soon be made in order that the work of the depart- ment may be more efficient. THE LIBRARY. Even in a teclmical school the library holds, and should hold, an important place- This is true at the South Dakota Agricultural College. To the department of history and literature the library serves, of course, as laboratory. To the laboratories of the chemist, the agronomist, the botanist, it serves as an important adjunct. The selection of books is entrusted to the librarian and to the heads of departments, who co-operate with the librarian in getting the best books really useful to the student or most suggestive to the instructor. Always the aim is to open to the student, as he advances in his investigations, a still wider vision. The library should not only meet the present needs of the inquirer, but should also hint at the broad world of knowledge and speculation into which the student is taking his first steps. The librarian regards his desk as a bureau of infor- mation at which he stands a living sign-board, as it were, pointing the way now to a volume of statistics, now to records of research and exploration, or to carefully elaborated theories, to a beguiling essay, or distracting story. Alike for the careful investigator and the casual reader does he point the impartial finger to the way of knowledge-as best he can. Beneath the sign-board exterior there lurks, however, the secret hope that for some he may add allurement to the paths of learning. If he feels at times that his visitors have need 30