University of Idaho - Gem of the Mountains Yearbook (Moscow, ID)

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Ghe University of Idaho T is said that yesterday lives in today, and today will live in the tomor- row. This thot of continuance is illustrated by a question which is asked with reference to the University yesterday, today and tomorrow. How large is the University? Of the many inquiries made respecting the institution, this is the most frequent. There are many ways that the inquiry may be answered. Usually the question refers to the number of students enrolled in college work that is given on the campus. It might be answered by referring to the quality of the scholarship, the number of colleges in the University organization, the number of people included on the educational staff, the material resources of the institution, the extent and quality of research that is being conducted, and by the rank and height of extension service which is rendered to the entire commonwealth. Following the usual practice, it may be noted that the University of Idaho has the largest student enrollment in her history. Last year there were 658, and this year 860 names measure the student enrollment. These are distributed as follows: College of Letters and Science 328 College of Law... 34 College of Agriculture........... - $1 Summer School (net)...........- 246 College of Engineering......... =, (63: . Specially Courses......-a---.ccesennons 108 It is interesting to observe that 32 counties of the state are represented and that 44.4 per cent. of the regular college students are from south Idaho. This suggests that the bigness of the University may be expressed by its increasingly attractive power measured in the distance traversed by students who enter her college halls. The number of students carrying work of high quality is one of the most important measures of University size and growth, but modern higher education expresses itself today in numerous extra-campus activities. These must be noted and analyzed if one would determine the size of the modern state university. ‘These extra-campus activities are shown in many forms of extension and research service which are related to interests in remote parts of the state. An examination of Agricultural Extension records and a review of Extension work done by other divisions of the University of Idaho exhibit most interesting facts. These facts deai with numbers, namely, 40,000 and more people of Idaho have been served directly during the past year by the movable schools, the workers in home economics, boys’ and girls club work, agricultural specialists and University faculty members who have co-operated with their educational associates thruout the state. In other words, the community center idea has been promoted in countless ways by these representatives of the University of Idaho; the doctrine of co-operation and efficiency has been advanced earnestly by these teachers, who have worked in every county of the state. They have entered enthu- siastically into the discussion of better methods for the advancement of industrial relations in agriculture, in forestry and in mining, in order that there may be larger returns with which to build better homes, develope a

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richer mental and social life, and encourage more loyal and patriotic citizenship. Intimately associated with the Extension evidences of University growth are surveys of various kinds which the University has contributed this past year. Illustrations of this University expression include surveys of soil, plant diseases, poisonous plants, climatic effects upon vegetation, orchard control and improvement, water relations to plants, animal diseases and control, and numerous other topics which require first-hand information. It is recognized by all intellectual people that the real mark of a university is research work. ‘True, a university is deeply concerned with teaching and with the distribution of knowledge which has already been acquired. However, to limit the modern university to this expression would be archaic and antique in every respect. No one save the most provincial in education attempt to limit university service to the function of teaching —important as that is. ‘Therefore, in harmony with the requirements of a modern university, encouragement has been given to very definite research during the past year. Some of this investigation is a continuation of that which has been carried on for several years, and some of it appears for the first time on the University campus. Special research has been conducted in studying problems of apple breeding, fruit and vegetable storage, animal feeding, animal breeding and hybridization, processing various woods, extracting by-products of woods, examining the records and the forms of municipal government, accumulating, analyzing, classifying facts with ref- erence to taxation, education and other industrial, scientific and civic activities. A further growth of the University of Idaho is registered by a move- ment which she initiated and which has resulted in an organization that might be termed a federation of Normal Schools, Colleges and Universities of Idaho, Montana and Washington. This federation is for the purpose of establishing intimate and co-operative relations among these various institutions in order that all may share their intellectual wealth and that the states represented may be served more effectively and more economically by their higher institutions of education. Perhaps the best concrete illustra- tion of this federation may be seen in the closer articulation of Washington State College and the University of Idaho. Plans have been initiated for establishing exchange lectureships between these institutions, and projects have been drawn whereby they may enter into definite co-operation in their extension and research service. In the state of Idaho there are over 100,000 children of school age, and there are more than 3,000 teachers employed in the rural, grade and high schools of the state. Possibly 20 per cent. of those teaching the Idaho youth are trained in Idaho institutions of higher education. While it is desirable and always will be proper to employ a large number of foreign trained leaders in education, it is manifestly wrong, if we have any hope of developing a true state of consciousness, to rely upon an overwhelming majority of teachers from other states. In order that the University may occupy her field more fully, that is the field of training teachers for high TTT TT TT — — | — i—4 — — ) oe |