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Show 492 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN SOHOOLS. Schools shonld be possessed of enough land to allow a certain number of the boys to have a cerbain amoont of land allotted them upon which to demonstrate their ability to farm and profit by it. Let there be a day of reckoning in the fall, when thecrops are harvested; have the boys render anitemized account of expense. labor, etc., expended on the land, and also of the profits derived therefrom, and let them have a certain per cent of the proceeds as an incentwe to work. In this manner a ractical abject-lesson can be taught the boys, illustrating the value and rewarlof honest toil. Our regulations governing the handling of money are so framed, from necessity, I presume, a not to permit any monqy whatsoever to be given to pupils as an enconragemenl; or as a means of training in economy, but I should think some system might be adopted by which a savings bank could be established at each school, thus making actnal economic trainmg possihle,from lack of which we often find failures also among graduates 1n general from the agrlcultnral schools thronghoutouroonntry. Theforeigner,withnocollegeedocation,but~thactud training in economy taught him by the stress of circumstances, travels along the road to success, while the college man, with high hope, ambition, and self-confidence, failafor want of the knowledge of how to put theory into practice. The plans of the college man and the Indian graduate are beyond their power of realization, because they have not had the opportnnity to face the problem of income and expenditure which is concerned in the pursuit of agricnlture. An Indian boy comes home from school believing he lmows how to fann, although he has not had a season's experience in caring for an acre of ground 'from seeding to harvesting. The Carliele School ia: I believe, the only school where economic training is to some extent administered among the Indian stn-dents. If this pian of apportioning school farms, or the herds of cattle where stock raising is the principal ocoupation. be put in force, we will have in onr schools, when the season is over, splendid material for discussion in practical farming and stock raising, which would no doubt be of lasting benefit to those. who have the responsib~l~otgn their shouldere. I believe that our schools are to-day doing good work, except, as stated before, in practical farming, which branch will, in my opinion, furnish the best fonnda-tion for the best general education which can he imparted toonr Indian boys,and in which can also be expected the best reanlts. The different trndes are pretty well filled up, and as every Indian has an allotment to which he can retreat, an economic agricultural training is an absolute necessity to each individual of all tribes. [H. M. NOBLE, soperintendent Grand River school, North Dakota.] The Indian boy, on arriving at citizenship, Gnds himself in a competitive'strg-gle with his white brother for maintenance, and in what special lines do the Indian yonth require most strong and vigorous training to prepare them for this struggle has been assigned me for discussion. Judging from my experience, the characteristics of the Idian most inimical to his success in this competitive struggle for snstsnance are his inertness, improvi-dence, and prodigality-qualities that are strongly inherited and therefore diffi-cult of eradication. After several years of experience in both rwrvation and nonreservation schools, from observation of many returned students, and from a special study of their needs, I think I can aafely state that there could be nothing incorporated into the cnrricnlum of our schools so well adapted to develop the qualities under discns-sion as the so-called manual-culture oourse. This begins in the kindergarten, .which supplies interesting work for the smallest children: passes on to work in clay,paper, pasteboard, and soft woods, the child eantinulng to manufacture things which he knows how touse, thereby anstaining hisintereat; thence to work in a11 kinds of woods and metals, the articles made continuing to arouse and sustain interest because of their adaptability to his increasing knowledge and oapacity; and, finally, the course ends in the apprenticeships of hades, where it assumes the form of actnal bread and butter work. All through these four stages of the oourse the pupil finds his activities producing something of intrinsic value, and, especially in the last two st-, of commercial value. 9till,with all bin labor and with his planning, snccess will not crown himunless the habit of economy be deeply instilled. Rere, too, is themanual course especially valuable. Thereis a constant vigilance in the care of tools and saving of material# for the completion of egiven amonnt |
