[8] For other quotations from this bulletin, see pages 46, 50, and 51.
In a letter Mr. Werner says: "My idea of giving credit is to use the old laboratory method of requiring the student to do a reasonable amount of work in a reasonable length of time. This allows for many of the variable factors that enter into the problem; I think it is better than to give so many points of credit for each piece of work done."
In the first six grades of the elementary school, where so much depends upon using the child's knowledge which he has gained from actual experiences about home, and the environment with which he comes in contact which is really a part of himself, we have the best basis for his further education. In these grades it will be raising and not lowering our standards when we give credit for home work and add it to the school credits for passing grades. All of the subjects of these grades should be so closely affiliated with the home life of the child as to warrant our doing this. It is so important that the child be engaged in the actual doing of things that the perfect grade of 100 per cent should be divided into two divisions: (1) A maximum of 90 per cent for school work. (2) A maximum of 10 per cent for home work when proper records and reports are kept.
In the seventh and eighth grades and in the high school, work corresponding to the age and ability of the pupils should be introduced and made part of the laboratory work, giving two fifths of a unit of credit. Here written reports of the operations performed should be worked out by the pupils and presented as class work. Classes should visit the dairy barns, feeding pens, gardens, corn or grass fields, orchards, etc. Pupils should carry on considerable individual home work, which should continue throughout the summer as well as winter season. This credit should be counted in agriculture, domestic arts and manual-training courses.
The various contests among the boys and girls, that are conducted in all parts of the state, certainly should be counted worthy of school credit. These contests are directly or indirectly under the auspices of the Agricultural College, and numerous bulletins are sent to the contestants. Many children actually receive in these contests almost the equal of a year's course in school.