Rare Books and Rural Arithmetic....

Sometimes you find wonderful things in the strangest places...sometimes you find the unexpected...sometimes you just find things that make you feel a bit...er...disquieted. I have just run across an amazing little tome titled, Rural Arithmetic: A Course in Arithmetic Intended to Start Children to Thinking and Figuring on Home and Its Improvements (1913). In the preface, the author (John Calfee) basically states that those children for whom college is not planned are often ignored in elementary school and the result is that "the soil has been abused and worn out, much of the timber wasted, and many once fertile farms abandoned." He sets out, therefore, to create a volume that "touch[es] the important phases of farm management."

The chapters are:

1: Fundamental Processes
2: Decimals
3: Education and Thrift
4: Practical measurements
5: Conservation of the Soil
6: Household and Health Problems
7: Growing Crops
8: Estimation of Crops in the Bulk
9: Stock and Feed Problems
10: Transportation
11: Building Problems
12: Machine, Shop, and Draft Problems.
13: Business Problems

Nice and logical...it is actually reading the problems presented that one begins to understand why we seem to be falling behind other countries in the area of math (and science). A few examples:

In the Conservation of Soil - Drainage section we find:

A fall of 3 inches for each hundred feet is considered a minimum grade for farm drainage. How much fall is this to the rod?

In Stock and Feed Problems - Cattle and Hog Problems, we find:

Can a farmer afford to feed corn at $0.40 per bushel when fat hogs are selling in the local market at $5.50 per hundredweight.

In Building Problems - Stonework and Brickwork, we find:

With brick at $10 per thousand, what will the brick cost for a flue 12 inches by 8 inches in the clear, and 27 feet high [ave. brick cited as 8"x4"x2"]?

In Practical Measurements - Specific Gravity, we find:

The specific gravity of cast iron is 7.4. What is the weight of a bar 2 feet long, 9 inches wide, and 8 inches thick?

And finally, in Practical Measurements - Measuring Lumber in the Log, we find:

Determine the number of board feet in the following: 3 logs 14 feet long, 36 inches in diameter; 2 logs 16 feet long, 24 inches in diameter [remembering Doyle's Rule: substrate 4 inches from the smallest diameter, multiply the remainder by one half itself, then by the length of the log in feet and divide by 8].

It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure these out *pathetic smile* (having to confirm the terms "hundredweight" and "rod" (100 pounds (no surprise there) and 16.5 feet) didn't help. I do, truly, believe that in our desire (and haste) to "leave no child behind" (or, perhaps, teach to the lowest common denominator), we are doing ourselves (and, worse, our children) a great disservice.

Tom Lehrer had a great line in his song, New Math (circa 1965), "It doesn't matter if you get the correct answer, as long as you understand the process" [paraphrased]. I am fond of Lehrer, who is also noted for saying that giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Henry Kissinger in 1973 made political satire obsolete.

I remember talking with a semi-retired bank president shortly before 2000 about the whole Y2K scare. To paraphrase his response as to why he was not concerned about the hype he said, "we have many people here how know how to run the books without computers." I wonder how much longer that will remain to be the case (hell, it has been years since I was at a market where I could buy anything if the cash registers were "down").

Perhaps books should be valued based on the quality of the data they contain (perhaps in several categories, e.g. practical, artistic, culinary, etc.). Thus, Rural Arithmetic would be worth a great deal, while much of the pablum that dominates the hyper modern market would be valued as it most likely should be (admittedly, I am exposing a bias here). Ah, but that is the beauty of books...there are plenty out there to sate any appetite.

Next time I am at my parent's home, I am going to figure out the board feet available in the 6 drying logs beside the garage...just 'cause I can.