Bulletin

TABLE 12.-Vocational departments of agriculture in Michigan high schools not Stateaided but under supervision of the State Agricultural College.

AGRICULTURE IN PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS.

Each year the Bureau of Education sends forms of inquiry to all public high schools, asking for statistical information relative to them and their work. In the summer of 1916 they were asked to give the number of pupils in agricultural courses during the preceding year. The total number of high schools replying was 12,003. Of these, 2,981 reported pupils in agricultural courses, the number being 60,925, of whom 39,343 were boys and 21,582 girls. Table 13 gives the data by States and by divisions.

To each of the 2,981 schools reporting pupils in agriculture a special questionnaire was sent to secure data to determine the amount and character of the instruction in the subject. Replies were received from approximately 2,250. The amount and character of the agricultural instruction in some of these was so little that the schools are not included among those tabulated in this report; 2,166 were giving instruction in agriculture in a serious way. Table 14 is a summary of the data submitted by these 2,166 schools. Table 15 gives the name and location of each school and part of the data collected.

In the summary table (Table 14) the schools are listed in columns 3 to 6 in regard to the date of introduction of agriculture in the course of study. It is interesting to note that but 19, or less than 1 per cent of the 2,166 schools, taught agriculture in or before 1900. and that 33, or less than 1.5 per cent, introduced the subject between 1900 and 1905. In over 97.6 per cent of the schools agriculture was introduced since 1905, and in 78.5 per cent since 1910.

The schools were asked to indicate their primary purpose in teaching agriculture, that is, whether the agricultural course is given for vocational purposes as definite preparation for farming, for informational purposes as information about agriculture, or for general cultural purposes. The replies indicated very clearly that

a large number of the schools did not know the purpose of the course. Many of them reported they were teaching it for all three reasons, and many more for two reasons. In the table all are included as giving vocational courses that reported so, regardless of whether they reported that the course was informational or cultural as well. Those that reported their course to be primarily informational and those that reported it to be informational and cultural are included under informational. Under cultural are included those reporting their course to be cultural only. On this basis over 25 per cent of the 2,166 schools stated that their courses are vocational. This figure can be used as an indication of the opinion of the schools relative to the purpose of their agricultural courses, but can not be taken as an indication of the proportion of the schools whose work is actually vocational. A comparison of column 4 in Table 15 with columns 7, 8, and 9 shows that many schools report their work as vocational and report also that the method of instruction is limited to classroom recitation work. In practically all of these cases a textbook on agriculture is used and the method of instruction does not differ materially from the method of teaching geography. Others that report their work as vocational give some laboratory work in addition to classroom work, but they report no practical work either on school land or in the performance of home agricultural projects. Many schools stated on the blanks that no practical work was needed, as their pupils lived on farms. It indicates a lack of conception on the part of the school authorities of what agricultural education means.

A better idea of the actual amount of vocational instruction in agriculture may be obtained from columns 7, 8, and 9 of Table 15, and columns from 13 to 18, inclusive, in Table 14. The summary shows that 422, or practically 20 per cent, of the schools included. in the table confine their instruction wholly to classroom recitation work; 50 per cent supplement the classroom work with laboratory experiments and in some cases with observation work on neighboring farms; while 676, or 30 per cent, combine classroom instruction with laboratory work and practical farm work either on school land or at the homes of the pupils through the project method; 337 of the 676 are using the home-project method, although in only 261 instances is the home project supervised by the agricultural instructor. As a matter of fact, there are many public high schools in the United States using the home-project method other than those included in the 2,166 that reported. All of the State-aided schools in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Louisiana use this method. Less than 50 per cent of them reported and are contained in Table 15. The total number using the home-project method in the United States must be at least 450.

The number of schools reporting school land used in connection with instruction in agriculture is much less than the total number reporting practical work. This is due, of course, to the large number of schools using the home-project method and therefore not needing school land.

The efficiency of the instruction depends in large measure upon the special training of the instructor in agriculture. The number of persons teaching agriculture in the 2,166 schools included in the table who are graduates of agricultural colleges is only 15 per cent of the total; an additional 21 per cent have had some training in agriculture in institutions of higher education, including both colleges and normal schools. This number includes those with only one summer term in agriculture, those with a winter "short course,' and those with one, two, or three years of regular college courses in agriculture. If replies had been obtained from all teachers of agriculture in public high schools, the per cent with training in agricultural colleges would probably be a little higher, since practically all of the State-aided agricultural departments in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Louisiana, and the schools listed in Table 12, employ as instructors in agriculture only graduates of agricultural colleges.

In the first paragraph of this section mention is made of 2,981 public high schools reporting pupils in agriculture in 1915-16. As stated, Table 15 includes 2,166 of these, all that reported on the special questionnaire. The name and location of the 815 not replying are given in Table 16, together with the names of other high schools reporting pupils in 1914-15. See page 83.

TABLE 13.-Total number of public high schools, and the number reporting pupils in courses in agriculture in 1915-16.