Farm Boys and GirlsMcKeever, William A. (William Arch)
Science
Farm Boys and Girls
McKeever, William A. (William Arch)
Boys; Farm life; Girls
Sex and Society. W. I. Thomas, pp. 149-175, "Sex and
Primitive Industry." University of Chicago Press. Shows in
outline the emancipation of women from the bondage of work.
Growth and Education. John M. Tyler. Chapter XII, "Manual
Training Needed for Girls." Houghton Mifflin Company.
Mind and Work. Dr. L. H. Gulick. Chapter II, "The Habit of
Success"; also Chapter XIII, "The Need of Adequate Work."
Doubleday, Page Company.
Motive for Work. Margaret E. Schallenbeyer. Annual Report
N.E.A. 1907.
_Wallaces' Farmer._ Des Moines, Iowa. Weekly. This periodical
prints many articles, editorial and contributed, which
discuss the subjects treated in the foregoing chapter.
The Mother of the Living. Mrs. Catherine Barton. Published by
the Author. Kansas City, Mo.
The Girl Wanted. Nixon Waterman. Chapter VIII, "The Purpose
of Life." Forbes & Co., Chicago.
Life's Day. William L. Bainbridge, M.D. Chapter VIII, "The
Irresponsible Age." Frederic A. Stokes Company. N.Y.
CHAPTER XIII
_SOCIAL TRAINING FOR FARM BOYS AND GIRLS_
We have been exceedingly slow in realizing the social needs of our
children, in the usual instance depending on chance conditions to
determine the matter for us. The city and the rural communities present
a striking contrast in this respect. It does not seem possible that both
can be right, while there is much to support the opinion that both are
wrong. That is to say, in the city community the majority of the
children are allowed to spend too much time in the company of others. As
a result, they take on social manners and customs in a mere formal way
and by far too early for the good of their character-development. The
city ripens young life too fast. It produces the manners and refinements
of adult life before the child becomes matured mentally. In the ordinary
rural community there is not enough social experience for the young; and
hence, a certain amount of crudeness, awkwardness, and lack of
refinement tend to linger permanently in the character.
A HAPPY MEAN IS NEEDED
What seems necessary, therefore, is the establishment of a social life
which will be a compromise between the excess of the city and the
deficit of the country. So far as can be learned, very little has been
achieved in the matter of establishing just such a social order in the
rural communities as will tend to develop the lives of the boys and
girls in an ideal, symmetrical way. We may not feel very certain as to
just how this ideal juvenile society should be constructed.
Nevertheless, an attempt will be made to sketch in this chapter a
working plan therefor. Some may see fit to adapt it, while others may
improve it through practice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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