Search

Interest in agricultural education continues to increase. The attempt to teach agriculture is no longer confined to the agricultural college and special agricultural school. Methods of teaching the most important facts and the elementary principles of agriculture are discussed in the meetings of most of our educational associations. There is a large demand from teachers and school officers for any printed matter on this subject that will help them in determining what to teach, and how to teach it, and how to organize schools and adjust courses of study so as to get the best results from the new studies without losing the best in the old. This bulletin consists of papers read before the American Association for the Advancement of Agricultural Teaching at its third annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, November 12, 1912. The papers presented in this bulletin are as follows: (1) The opportunity and responsibility for the preparation of teachers of agriculture (a) by agricultural colleges in their regular courses and classes (H. L. Rusell), (b) by agricultural colleges in special courses and classes organized for this work (Kenyon L. Butterfield); (2) The first year's work in agriculture in the high school (W. G. Hummel); (3) What relation should exist between the experiment stations and the secondary schools of agriculture (A. A. Soule); and (4) The use of land in connection with agricultural teaching (a) in special agricultural schools (C. G. Selvig), (b) in high schools (Rufus W. Stimson), (c) in elementary schools. Appended are: (1) Summary of information from special schools or current bulletins; (2) Demonstration work at Northwest School of Agriculture, Crookston, Minnesota; (3) List of 1912 suggestive topics for "summer practicum" work, Northwest School of Agriculture, Crookston, Minnesota; (4) Massachusetts State-aided vocational agricultural education: Examples of the income of pupils from farm work during attendance at school in 1912; and (5) Questionnaires sent out. Individual sections contain footnotes. [Best copy available has been provided.]

Education in and through agriculture is attracting the attention and interest of teachers in schools of all grades and of many people, both in the country and in the city. Only within recent years have agriculture and allied subjects come to be an important part of the courses of study in elementary and secondary schools and in normal schools whose purpose and function it is to prepare teachers for these lower schools. For this reason there is still much uncertainty as to what and how much of these subjects should be taught, how the matter selected should be arranged, what methods of teaching should be used, and what should be the organization and support of the schools doing this work. Hence, any contribution toward the answer of these questions is welcomed by teachers, school officers, legislators, and people who have children to educate and who contribute to the support of the schools. This bulletin consists of papers read before the American Association for the Advancement of Agricultural Teaching at its second annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio, November, 1911. This association is composed of persons engaged in agricultural education in American colleges, normal schools, high schools, elementary schools, and special schools of agriculture. Its membership includes able men and women in all parts of the United States who have acquaintance with the present usage and the needs of such education in all sections. These papers constitute a valuable contribution to the solution of several problems of agricultural education, especially in the secondary schools. The six papers presented in this bulletin are as follows: (1) Essentials in a state system of agricultural education (F. W. Howe); (2) The need for reliable scientific data regarding social and economic conditions in rural communities (E. C. Higbie); (3) The proper equipment of an agricultural high school (D. O. Barto), followed by a discussion of this paper by D. J. Crosby; (4) The Smith's Agricultural School and agricultural education in Massachusetts (R. W. Stimson); (5) The unprepared teacher of agriculture in high schools and colleges of education (A. V. Storm); and (6) What is done to prepare teachers of secondary school agriculture (A. C. Monahan. [Best copy available has been provided.]

The purpose of the American Association for the Advancement of Agricultural Teaching, as stated in its constitution, is "to promote the teaching of agriculture and to devise ways and means for increasing the efficiency of such instruction in elementary and secondary schools and in colleges and universities." The time is opportune perhaps for discussing what ought to be the immediate policy of the association in putting its purpose into effect. One matter has already been settled. It has been agreed that for the present efforts shall be centered principally upon promoting the teaching of agriculture in the secondary schools, by devising ways and means of making that teaching more efficient. One who has marked the recent multiplication in the number of secondary schools attempting to teach agriculture can not but commend restriction of attention to the important problems which these schools present. Appended are: (1) 1913 summer practicum (home project) work of the University of Minnesota Northwest School of Agriculture, Crookston, Minn; (2) Students' reports on 1912 and 1913 summer practicum work at Crookston, Minn; (3) Use of land by high schools teaching agriculture. Returns for school year 1911-12; (4) The cooperative use of equipment and illustrative material in teaching agriculture; and (5) Massachusetts State-aided vocational agricultural education-- Examples of the income of pupils from farm work during attendance at school in 1913. [Best copy available has been provided.]