Agricultural Education 1916-1918
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DEPARTMENT 'OF THEINTERIOR BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETIN, 1918, No.44 AGRICULTURALEDUCATION - 1916-1918 By C. H. LANE FEDERAL AGENT FOR AGRICULTURALEDUCATION. FEDERAL BOARD FOR VOCATIONALEDUCATION [Advance sheets from the BiennialSurvey of Education in the United States. 1916-1918] WASHINGTON GOVERNSUag PROMNG OFFICE rt 1919 ADDITIONAL COPIES OP IRIS PUBLICATION MAT BE PROCURED FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OP DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING caves WASUINCTON, D. C. AT 6 CENTS PER COPY V AGRICULTURAL EDITCATIOg,1916-1918 By C. H. LANE, Federal Agent for Agrieul tura! Education.Fefic,at Ilwird for VocationalgdurnlioS. CONTENTS. - -Agriculture in secondary schoolsN*11eelementary school. Agricultural edu- cation ut nwattpgsAgricultural educatton inother countries - -1 docatIonal work the Deparuneut of AgricultureThe agricultural of collegesAppropriationsExtension and short coursesThe graduate school ofagriculture. AGRICULTURE IN SECONDARYSCHOOLS. In the: passage of the Smith-HughesAct another importantstep has been taken by the Federal Government. in its refations'toeduca- tion.Under the new measure; Federalappropriations ultimately aggregating over $7,000,000 per-tinnum have .been made availablefOr cooperation with the States in the promotionof vocational education in agriculture, the trades and industries,and home economics, includ- ing the preparatio of teachers.. The principle ofFederal aid through the States location in institutions of suboollegiategrade has been establisheand 'an additional set ofadministrative ma- chinery has been devised tooperate the new system of education which is provided. As a ptifineer measure, the neiv reogisiationinevitably recalls the original Morrill Act.Primarily both lawswere apparently intended to provide training in agriculture and the industries,the one in col- legiate, the other it subcollegiato institutions.They were thus both designed to develop a type of educationof the utmost importanceto our country, but Previously never direillysupported by the Federal Government and to orll-)a limiteddegree by 'the. Stiktes. and local comintnitieS.Likewise oth acts invidved theintroduction of a new system of .education into the'existingsystem. It is s8mewhat remarkable that these two measures,' separatedin time by aTeried of over halftccentury, should both have been enacted' in a piti00.of _givat national.. crisis. The Morrill Act of 1862was of course signed in the midst ofthe Civil "War, while the vocational education act of 1917 antedated byonly. a few weeks the formal 4 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-0. entrance of the United Sfates into the present conflict.The coinci- dence is the molt striking since both measures were designed to foster agriuulture and the industries, foremost, among the arts of phce, and since both had been pending in Congress for years before the outbreak of hostilities. The mfiasnre ultimately adopted was introduced into the Sixty- fourth- Congress by Senator Hoke Smith on December 7, 1915, and was passed by the Senate with amendments .Tilly 31. 1916.Its early enactment was strongly urged by President Wilson in -addressing Congress at its reopening in the following December, as or vital importance to the whole country because it concerns ; r too long negleettll, upon Iyhicli the thorough industrial pmpa n of the country for the critical years of ecomanie I leveloment-ii lately ahead of as In very large ineasure depends .* *. It mi is plans why' feet all Interests anti all parts-of the country. and I ensure that there is no legislation now pending before the Congress ":141;;:e passage the countiy awaits- with more thoughtful approval or greater impatience to see a great null aultnIrallle thing set in tilit'lyny of being (hale. As an expression of clue:aloud policy, the new act embodies some important departnres from previous legislation.It makes provision for the training within the schoOls of a large group of mu. popula- tion hitherto unreached directly by the Federal Government. On the one hand, by offering instruction along vocational lines and of subcollegiate grade, it supplements the Morrill Act, the-expressed purpose of which-is to maintain colleges "to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic .arts* * * in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the indus- trial clasSes in the several pursuits and professions of life." On the other hand, since it-contemplates a system of training in the schools, it also supplements the agricultural extension act of 1914, in which the service provided is " the giving of instruction and practical demon- StratiOns in agrictire and home economics topefsons not attending Or resident in Sta e colleges in the several .communities."Since it .imposes definite requirements as to the training of teachers, it also represents a material extension of authority over the purely permis-. sive provisions of the Nelson amendment of 1907. The most radical innovation in the act deals with the method of its miniStratitin... Previous-legislation along those lines has regarded tha ollegeof agriculture and mechanic arts as the State unit, whether for college instruction under the Morrill Act and acts supplementary thereto, the preparation of. teachers under the Nelson 'ainendlnent, the conducting of 'research 'in agriculture under the Hatch and Adams. Acts, or .the. Carrying on in -cooperation . with. :the United States Department of Agricultufe of extension work in agriculture and home economics under the extension ad.. The administration of AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION,1916-1018. 5 those measures dealing withcollege instruction has Departmeneof the centered in the Interior, and of those ,dealingwith research and extension work in agriculturein the Department of The vocational education Agriculture. act in both respects establishesa new ad- ministrative system. As its head there is provided a Federal Board for VocationalEdu- cation.This board consists of taries of Agriculture. seven members, including the Secre- Commerce, and Labor, andthe United States Commissioner of Education,ex officio, with three members appointed by the President andconfirmed by theSenalitimately for terms of three years each. Oneof the appointed triiii)erg tive of the manufacturing is a representa- and commercial interests,one of the agri- cultural interests, and the third of those of labor.The board selects its own chairman eachyear. The Federal board ischarged with the administrationt the details as to the the act, care of funds, the certifying ofthe Statet, etc., in general plan resemblingthe legislation for the leak and experiment stations. agricultural col-, In addition it is empoweredto make, of ave made, investigations and reports to aid the States inthe establishment of vocationalschools and classes, and struction in agriculture, the in giving in- trades and industries,commerce and pursuits, and home economics.These studies include agriculture and agriculturalprocesses and the .requirement agricultural Workers, similar wpon studies as regards thetrades, industries, and commerce, homemanagement, domestic science, of related foods, and.the and the study principles and problemsof administration of vocational schools andof courses of study and cational subjects. instruction in vo- In the discretion of\theboard,, the studies.con- cerning 'agriculturemay be-made in cooOration with Department of Agriculture. or through the Similar cooperativearrangements may be made with the Departmentsof Labor and Commerce trhil subjects, white the for indus- studies of the administrationof vocational schools, curricula, and: methods.of instruction in vocationalsubjects may be taken up in cooperation withor through the Bureau of 'Edu- cation. 4n appropriation of $200,000 per annum; availablefrom the date of passage of the act, is made to the board for itsexpenseS. To cooperate with the, Federal board in carrying out theact, each State when accepting its provisions is to designatea Stateboard of at least three members.The State board of board having education or 'some.- charge of the administrationof public educationor of any kind of vocational education"may be designated as the State board, or an entirelynew board may be created. The State board is to prepare plans for theapproval of the Fed- .eral board, showing the details of the work for 'whichit is expected . '6 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 19*-1918. ' to use this. appropriations.These plans, it is speCified, must show the kinds of vocational education conteniplated,-t he kinds of schools and equipment, courses of study, method, of instruction, and the qualifications and the plans for the training of the teachers and4 agricultural supervisrs.in all eases the work wst be conilmed under public supervision and control. The plans of expenditures for salaries in agricultural subjects must in addition show that the conkolling purpose of the education is to fit for useful employment, that the training is less than college grade, and that it is designed to meet the needs of persons over 11 year of age who have entered upon or who are preparing to enter upon the work of the farm ol.of the farm home. The Federal appropriations to the States are divided into three distinct groups. providing respectively for the payment, of salaries of teachers, supervisors. or directors of agricultZiral sullje..ts: for the payment of salaries of trade, hhme economics, and industrial subjects: and for the preparing of teachers; supervisors, or directors of agricultural subjects, and of teachers of trade and industrial and