A prominent Western dairyman remarked that arithmetic had always been a hopeless subject for him. He declared that arithmetically he was "born short." A listener inquired if he had any trouble in keeping accounts, in figuring out the profits on each dairy cow, or in doing other problems connected with his farm. He replied very quickly, "No, not at all. I don't have any trouble with anything except arithmetic." Home credits take into account the out-of-school mathematical activities. So the boy who has measured a cord of wood, laid out a garden plot, figured out the costs, income, and profits of feeding a pig for a year, or solved any problem that comes up on the farm, will be considered to have done something in arithmetic.
From Auburn, Washington, comes a story of the effect of giving school credits for garage and shop work. Joe, a boy of seventeen, who had attended high school for a year and a half, had earned only three academic credits, and his other work was below passing. The superintendent, Mr. Todd, called a conference with Joe's parents and, to use his own expression, went after Joe "with hammer and tongs." After much discussion, the superintendent finally asked the father and mother what the boy seemed most interested in outside of school. Exchanging a troubled glance with his wife, the father said that as soon as Joe got out of school he rushed straight to Meade's garage. So the superintendent went to the garage, and found that Joe could be taken into Mr. Meade's employment for the afternoons. Again he called Joe to his office, and said to him, "Now, see here. You are going on with your regular subjects here in school, and in addition you are going to do some work down in Meade's garage. Mr. Meade is going to grade your work and send in his report to me. If you make good there it will help out your record here. You will get pay for your work, too. You have got it in you to make good, and I know you will. What do you think about it?" "I think it's bully!" exclaimed Joe.
[Illustration: JOE IN THE GARAGE, AUBURN, WASHINGTON]
Joe had failed in his geometry, but as soon as he took the position at the garage his work in geometry improved. It was about Christmas that he began working, and at the time of the report several months later he was doing well in his mathematics. The credit he received from the garage counted toward his marks for high-school graduation. Mr. Meade, incidentally, was very much pleased with his part in the transaction, and sent in his reports with religious regularity.