State-aided departments of agriculture in public high-schools

B M IflS 77T

EDUCATION

EDUC.
LIBRARY

COPTEIGHT 1911 BY

S. CHESTER PARKER

SECRETARY OP THE SOCIETY

Published February 1911
EDUCATION

Composed and Printed By

The University of Chicago Press

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

III. STATE-AIDED DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE IN
PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS

DICK J. CROSBY
Specialist in Agricultural Education of the U.S. Office of Experiment Stations

Eleven states have appropriated funds to encourage the teaching of
agriculture in existing public high schools. Several other states have
made provision for special agricultural schools or given money for con-
ducting teachers' training courses in which agriculture is one of the sub-
jects of instruction, but these are not considered in this paper.

Virginia was first of the eleven states to make a specific appropriation
for the teaching of agriculture in public high schools. In 1908 the
Virginia Assembly appropriated $20,000 to enable the State Board of
Education to inaugurate courses in agriculture, home economics, and
manual training in at least one public high school in each of the ten con-
gressional districts of the state, and has since increased the appropriation
to $65,000, including $25,000 to aid the schools in providing buildings
and equipment, and $10,000 for extension work to be conducted by them.
There is nothing in the legislation to indicate how much money each
school shall receive, because the number of schools to be aided, and hence
the amount available for each, is not stipulated, this whole matter being
left to the discretion of the State Board of Education.

Virginia was followed in 1909 by Maine and Minnesota. At that
time Maine gave funds for instruction in agriculture and other industrial
subjects in incorporated academies, but two years later an act was passed
extending such aid to free high schools — two-thirds of the total expendi-
ture for instruction in agriculture, home economics, and mechanic arts,
but not to exceed $500 a year to any one school.

Minnesota passed an act giving $2,500 to each of ten high, graded,
or consolidated rural schools maintaining courses in agriculture, home
economics, and manual training, and the work of these ten schools
proved to be so popular that in 1911 the legislature extended state aid
at the rate of $2,500 a year to twenty additional schools, and also passed
another act giving $1,000 a year to each of fifty schools to aid in main-

54

STATE-AIDED DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 55

taining courses in agriculture and either in home economics or manual
training.

In 1910, Louisiana, Maryland, and New York passed somewhat
similar laws, and in 1911, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Texas,
and Wisconsin were added to the list. That local school authorities are
ready and willing to meet all reasonable requirements as to expenditures
for equipping and maintaining departments of agriculture, home eco-
nomics, and farm mechanics in order to secure state aid, is shown by the
rapid growth in the number of such state-aided departments. In May,
1910, there were twenty-eight schools receiving state aid for agriculture,
while in November, 1911, there were at least two hundred and fifty.

The character and amount of state aid and the requirements to be
met in the different states are shown in the following brief statements.

KANSAS

Law — Session Laws of 1911, chap. 24, sec. 2.

Number and kind of schools aided — Any high school maintaining a normal-
training course under the provision of chap. 212 of the Session Laws of 1909.
The State Board of Education has approved 98 schools for 1912.

Character and amount of aid — "The sum of $250 per annum," the total
state appropriation for this purpose being $25,000 for 1912, and $25,000 for

For what purpose — The maintenance of "courses in the elements of agri-
culture and domestic science."

Requirements to be met — At least ten pupils must be "enrolled in such indus-
trial courses each semester." The State Board of Education has agreed that
teachers in either of these courses must have special training for their work
and their qualifications must be approved by the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction. A minimum of i year in agriculture and i year in domes-
tic science, preferably in the second year, will be required. "Laboratory work
shall require double periods."

Administered by — The State Board of Education.

LOUISIANA

Law — Acts of Louisiana, 1910, No. 80, making appropriations to defray
the ordinary expenses of the government, etc.

Number and kind of schools aided — Not more than 20 high schools main-
taining agricultural departments in the school years 1911 and 1912.

Character and amount of aid — A lump sum appropriation for the year end-
ing June 30, 1911, $25,000, and for the year ending June 30, 1912, $25,000.

56 THE ELEVENTH YEARBOOK

Since the State Board of Education has decided not to aid more than 20 schools
in 1911 and 1912, the appropriation to each school will be from $1,200 to $1,500.
Nine schools maintained departments of agriculture in 1909-10 without state
aid.

For what purpose — The maintenance of agricultural departments in con-
nection with public high schools.

Requirements to be met — The State Board of Education has adopted regu-
lations making the following requirements: Each school must have a demon-
stration farm of at least 5 acres, fenced against rabbits, chickens, and stock,
and an option on 5 acres more if needed; there must be a barn with at least 5
stalls for horses and cattle, a weevil-proof grain bin, fertilizer and tool rooms,
and a hayloft; the agricultural departments of approved high schools shall
have at least $100 worth of apparatus for teaching agriculture in addition to
the regular apparatus for such schools, and those not on the approved list must
have $100 worth of apparatus for agriculture and from $75 to $150 worth of
other apparatus; the school must also have at least $40 worth of tools and $140
worth of farm implements; an appropriation of at least $250 for maintenance
annually; and must own a horse or mule. The teacher of agriculture must be
a graduate of an agricultural college with some practical experience in farming,
and must be satisfactory to the department of education; he cannot be prin-
cipal of the school and must not be required to teach any class in the school
outside the department of agriculture except in botany and zoology, if these
subjects are given an agricultural trend; he must be employed for twelve
months hi the year.

Administered by — The State Board of Education through the Supervisor of
Agricultural High Schools.

MAINE

Law — Act of 1909 providing state aid for instruction in agriculture and
other industrial subjects in incorporated academies, superseded by "An Act
for the Encouragement of Industrial Education," Public Laws of 1911, chap.
188.

Number and kind of schools aided — Any free high school or incorporated
academy.

Character and amount of aid — "A sum equal to two-thirds the total expen-
diture for instruction in each of said courses, provided, however, that no school
shall receive a total in excess of $500 in any one year for the support of said
courses."

For what purpose — Instruction in the "principles of agriculture and the
domestic and mechanic arts."

Requirements to be met— An average attendance of not less than 12 students
in any course for which state aid is claimed. The course of study, equipment,

STATE-AIDED DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 57

and qualifications of instructors to be prescribed by the State Superintendent
of Public Instruction.

Administered by — The State Superintendent of Public Instruction, except
that the funds are paid out upon order of the Governor and Council.

MARYLAND

Law — Acts of 1910, chap. 386.

Number and kind of schools aided — Any high school of the first or second
group. High schools of the first group must have not less than 80 pupils, 4
teachers of high-school subjects, exclusive of teachers of special subjects, a
course of four years of 36 weeks each, and provision for manual-training and
domestic-science courses and also for a commercial or an agricultural course.
High schools of the second group must have at least 35 pupils, 2 teachers of
regular subjects, a three-year course, and a manual- training (construed to
include domestic science), or an agricultural, or a commercial course.

Character and amount of aid — In addition to state aid for the salaries of the
principal and regular teachers, schools of the first group receive from the state
"$400 on account of each of 2 special teachers, who shall spend at least two-
fifths of their time in the school receiving said amounts, and schools of the
second group $400 on account of i teacher of special subjects, provided that
if an instructor in manual training or agricultural work be required to divide
his or her time among not more than four schools of this group, $150 shall be
allowed on account of each of such schools."

For what purpose — Instruction in manual training and domestic science and
commercial or agricultural subjects.

Requirements to be met — So far as agriculture is concerned high schools of
the first group must conform to a four-year course of study prescribed by the
State Board of Education, requiring a minimum of two recitations of 40 min-
utes each and one practicum of 80 minutes each week.

Administered by — The State Board of Education.

MASSACHUSETTS

Law — "An Act to Codify and Amend the Laws Relating to State-aided
Vocational Education," approved May 26, 1911.

Number and kind of schools aided — Public high schools.

Character and amount of aid — Two-thirds of the salary paid to instructors
in agriculture, provided that the total state expenditure for this purpose shall
not exceed $10,000 in any one year.

For what purpose — The maintenance by cities and towns of "local or dis-
trict independent agricultural schools consisting only of agricultural depart-
ments in high schools."

58 THE ELEVENTH YEARBOOK

Requirements to be met — Approval by the State Board of Education "as to
organization, control, location, equipment, courses of study, qualifications of
teachers, methods of instruction, conditions of admission, employment of
pupils, and expenditures of money."

Administered by — The State Board of Education.

MINNESOTA

Putnam Act

Law — "An Act to Amend Chapter 247, General Laws 1909, Entitled, 'An
Act to Provide for the Establishment and Maintenance of Departments of
Agriculture, Manual Training, and Domestic Economy in State High, Graded,
and Consolidated Schools, and to Authorize Rural Schools to Become Asso-
ciated with Such State, Grade, or High Schools, and Making Appropriation
Therefor,' and to Provide for Levying of Taxes to Carry Its Provisions Into
Effect," approved April 5, 1911.

Number and kind of schools aided — Any high school, graded school, or con-
solidated rural school having satisfactory rooms, equipment, and location,
limited, however, by a state appropriation for 30 such schools for the years
ending June 30, 1912, and June 30, 1913.

Character and amount of aid — Not exceeding $2,500 a year on account of
the maintenance of an agricultural and industrial department, and $150 a year
for each rural school associating itself with a Putnam school.

For what purpose — The maintenance of an agricultural and industrial
department to consist of courses in agriculture, manual training, and home
economics.

Requirements to be met — The employment of trained instructors whose
qualifications are approved by the State High-School Board, and provision
for a tract of land suitable for school garden and purposes of experiment
and demonstration containing not less than 5 acres. "The instruction in
such agricultural and industrial department shall be of a practical charac-
ter, dealing with soils, crops, fertilizers, drainage, farm machinery, farm
buildings, breeds of live stock, live-stock judging, animal diseases and
remedies, production of milk and cream, testing of same, manufacture of
butter and cheese, horticulture, gardening, plants, and such other ques-
tions as have a direct relation to the business of farming, including book-
keeping and farm accounts. It shall also include systematic courses in
manual training, and in home economics, as these are usually taught in
public schools."

Administered by— The State Department of Public Instruction through the
State High-School Board.

STATE-AIDED DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 59

Benson-Lee Act

Law — "An Act to Provide for the Teaching of Certain Industrial Subjects
in High and Graded Schools, and Fixing the Amount of State Aid for Such
Instruction, and the Manner of Its Payment," approved April 7, 1911.

Number and kind of schools aided — Any high school or graded school, the
number being limited by a state appropriation for 50 such schools in 1912 and

Character and amount of aid — One thousand dollars annually.

For what purpose — The maintenance of a course in agriculture and either
in home economics or in manual training.

Requirements to be met — The State High-School Board has prescribed rules
requiring that the courses authorized by this law shall be maintained through-
out the school year, and that in addition to the longer course each school shall
offer a free winter short course of not less than 3 months. The instructors
shall have had training in their respective lines in technical schools, those hi
agriculture being graduates of an agricultural college or having an equivalent
technical training. Suitable rooms and equipment shall be provided, and the
instructor in agriculture shall have a room exclusively for his work, shall be
provided with laboratory facilities, and shall have not less than a continuous
half-day for agricultural work. He shall make a close study of local conditions,
and attend markets, horticultural meetings, meetings of creamery and stock-
breeding and other associations, and such other gatherings as afford oppor-
tunity to make the acquaintance of farmers. The work in agriculture is to
include textbook work, laboratory courses, special work along some line of
local interest, such as dairying, corn breeding, poultry, etc., institute work in
co-operation with the extension division of the State College of Agriculture,
and a winter short course. Two satisfactory daily periods in an industrial
subject or subjects are held to count as a credit.

Administered by — The State Department of Public Instruction through the
State High-School Board.

NEW YORK

Law — Education Law 1910, art. 22.

Number and kind of schools aided — Any city school or union free school.

Character and amount of aid — The sum of $500 to each city and union free
school for each independently organized school (here meaning nearly the same
as "department" or "course" in other states) "of agriculture, mechanic arts,
and home-making, maintained therein for 38 weeks during the school year
and employing one teacher whose work is devoted exclusively to such school,
and having an enrolment of at least 25 pupils and maintaining a course of
study approved by him," and the further sum of $200 for each additional

60 THE ELEVENTH YEARBOOK

teacher thus employed. "The Commissioner of Education may in his dis-
cretion apportion to a district or city maintaining such schools or employing
such teachers for a shorter time than 38 weeks, an amount pro rata to the time
such schools are maintained or such teachers are employed."

For what purpose — To be used exclusively for the support and maintenance
of schools of agriculture, mechanic arts, and home-making, independently
organized but forming a part of the public-school system.

Requirements to be met — The school or course in agriculture, mechanic arts,
and home-making must be maintained 38 weeks to secure in full the benefits
of this act, must have an enrolment of at least 25 pupils, employ a teacher or
teachers "holding a special agricultural-school certificate and devoting their
entire time to the teaching of agriculture, mechanic arts, cooking, sewing,
bookwork relating to agriculture, etc.," and must conduct a course of study
approved by the State Department of Education. The State Department
announces that "classes of book study only in agriculture and home-making
are not entitled to the benefits of the law establishing these courses," and
recommends that the "practical phases of work in these courses should extend
through at least one-third of the weekly program, and more if school conditions
permit."

Administered by — The New York State Education Department through its
division of trade schools.

NORTH DAKOTA

Law — Laws of 1911, chap. 40, approved March 18, 1911.

Number and kind of schools aided — Any state high school, graded, or con-
solidated rural school having facilities to do agricultural work, the number
being limited to 5 the first year, and an additional number of not more than
5 every two years thereafter. Owing to a veto by the Governor of the appro-
priation to carry out the provisions of this act for 1912, there will be no funds
for these schools until 1913.

Character and amount of aid — Each school will be entitled to $2,500 a year
of state aid but will not participate in the state aid now being given to the
state high schools — $600 to $800 a year.

For what purpose — The maintenance of an agricultural department.

Requirements to be met — The employment of trained instructors in agri-
culture, manual training, and domestic science, provision for a tract of land
suitable for a school garden and purposes of demonstration containing not less
than 10 acres, and located within one mile of the school building, the mainte-
nance of special winter courses when necessary to accommodate a reasonable
number of boys and girls, and the giving of instruction hi soils, crops, fertilizers,
drainage, farm machinery, farm buildings, breeds of live stock, stock judging,

STATE-AIDED DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 61

animal diseases and remedies, production, testing and hauling of milk and
cream, the manufacture of butter and cheese, the growth of fruit and berries,
management of orchards, market garden and vegetable crops, cereal grains,
fine seeds, bookkeeping and farm accounts, and all other matters pertaining to
general practice.

Administered fry— The State High-School Board.

TEXAS

Law — Acts of Thirty-second Legislature, chap. 26, sec. 3, approved March
6, 1911, became a law June n, 1911.

Number and kind of schools aided — Any high school of the first, second, or
third class. A high school of the first class is one which maintains at least
four years of work above the sixth grade and employs at least two teachers of
high-school subjects; a high school of the second class, three years and two
teachers; and a high school of the third class, two years and one teacher.

Character and amount of aid — In high schools of the first and second class
the state will duplicate local appropriations within the following limits: agri-
culture, $500 to $1,500; domestic economy, $500 to $1,000; and manual train-
ing, $500 to $1,000. In high schools of the third class state aid is confined to
courses hi agriculture, $500 to $1,000. No school may receive in one year
more than $2,000 from the state, and "such appropriation shall not be made
more than twice to the same school." Fifty thousand dollars a year has been
appropriated to meet the requirements of this law in 1912 and 1913.

For what purpose — Establishing, equipping, and maintaining courses hi
agriculture, domestic economy, and manual training.

Requirements to be met — The local board shall provide ample room and
laboratories for teaching each subject and, in connection with the department
of agriculture, shall provide a tract of land suitable to the production of farm
and garden plants, and shall employ a teacher who has received special train-
ing for giving efficient instruction in agriculture. The State Superintendent
of Public Instruction has decided upon a minimum of 3 acres of land suitable
for agricultural purposes to be owned by each school applying for state aid
for agriculture.

Administered by — The State Board of Education.

Grants of aid are made, upon recommendation of the State Superintendent
of Public Instruction, only to those schools which give evidence that after
state aid is withdrawn they will continue to maintain the special departments.

VIRGINIA

Law — Item in appropriation bill of 1908-9 and acts of 1910, p. 362.
Number and kind of schools aided — At least one public high school in each

62 THE ELEVENTH YEARBOOK

congressional district (10 in number) in the state. There are 10 of these
schools now in operation.

Character and amount of aid — In the appropriation bill $20,000 a year was
given for apportionment among these schools. By the act of 1910 the amount
was increased to $30,000 annually, and for the year ending February 28, 1912,
the further sums of $25,000 for the purpose of providing buildings and equip-
ment for these schools, and $10,000 for "traveling, demonstration, and exten-
sion work to be connected" with them.

For what purpose — Maintaining "a thorough course hi agriculture, the
domestic arts and sciences, and manual training, .... and at least one-
fourth of the school time shall be devoted to these subjects." All female
students attending these schools shall be instructed in domestic sciences and
arts as required subjects and may also elect agriculture. These schools may
also be used as centers for directing farm demonstration work and other exten-
sion work throughout the several congressional districts, under regulations
prescribed by the State Board of Education and the State College of Agri-
culture.

Requirements to be met — Not less than 5 acres of land convenient to the
school to be cultivated by the students, as far as practicable, for demon-
stration purposes. Suitable buildings and equipment, including shops for
elementary manual training, benchwork, and other forms of shopwork appli-
cable to rural life. The district boards shall provide suitable equipment for
domestic-science instruction.

Administered by — The State Board of Education.

By the acts of 1910 the boards of supervisors hi the several counties of the
state are authorized to appropriate such sums of money as to them may seem
proper for the establishment, equipment, or maintenance of the schools referred
to above.

WISCONSIN

Law — Laws of 1911, chaps. 544, 545.

Number and kind of schools aided — Any "free high school or a high school
having a course of study equivalent " thereto.

Character and amount of aid — State aid amounting to $250 for each special
department maintained only in the high-school years, or $350 for each such
department maintained in the high school and "the three upper grades next
below the high school." The maximum that any school can receive is $1,050
a year.

For what purpose — To establish and maintain departments of manual
training, domestic economy, and agriculture.

Requirements to be met — The carrying out of a course of study or outline of
work hi manual training, domestic economy, or agriculture, approved by the
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the employment of qualified

STATE-AIDED DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 63

teachers, whose salaries "shall be at least at the rate of $60 per month." A
course of study involving 4 units in agriculture and agricultural chemistry has
been outlined, together with suggestions concerning apparatus, equipment, and
supplies, which outline has been approved by the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction and published as a bulletin of the University of Wisconsin.

Administered by — The State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

From these statements it will be seen that state aid varies in the
different states from $250 to $3,000 to each school, that the number of
schools receiving state aid is usually limited by the size of a lump sum
appropriation, and this appropriation varies from $10,000 in Massa-
chusetts to $125,000 in Minnesota.

Louisiana and Massachusetts give state aid for agriculture alone,
Kansas for agriculture and home economics, while the other eight states
include agriculture, home economics, and manual training or farm
mechanics. The requirements to be met as to equipment and local
expenditures are in the case of eight of the states partially included in
the legislative enactments but in Louisiana, Maryland, and Massachu-
setts practically all requirements are prescribed by the state authorities
designated to administer the laws. These state authorities are in every
case members of the state board of education, or, as in Louisiana, Massa-
chusetts, and New York, special officers appointed by the state board of
education. In Louisiana the special officer in charge of agricultural
courses in high schools is also an officer of the state agricultural college.
In New York this officer is a member of the staff of the state department
of education and he has charge of the corps of district supervisors of
elementary schools who are appointed as the result of civil-service
examinations and are required to give special attention to nature-study
and elementary agriculture in the schools under their supervision.

The requirements to be met by the schools receiving state aid vary
greatly in the different states, but in the main they include the employ-
ment of teachers having special training for their work, provision for
suitable laboratories and laboratory equipment, land for educational
work in agriculture, and the giving of courses of study approved by the
state authorities in charge.

ADVANTAGES OF A SYSTEM OF STATE AID FOR AGRICULTURAL AND
INDUSTRIAL SUBJECTS

As a system for the development of agricultural and industrial edu-
cation, state aid possesses many advantages over any system depending
solely upon local initiative. In the first place it usually insures better

64 THE ELEVENTH YEARBOOK

equipment. These are primarily laboratory rather than textbook sub-
jects, and adequate equipment is essential to success in teaching them.
Laboratories, special apparatus, and land are needed, and these are much
more likely to be provided if state aid depends upon them than under a
system depending entirely upon local initiative for development.

Secondly, state aid carries with it a certain amount of state super-
vision, and this can more easily be made expert supervision than where
everything concerning courses of study and methods of teaching are left
to town or county superintendents. Three of the states have already
employed experts to supervise the work in agriculture in state-aided
schools, and at least one other state would employ a supervisor at once
if the right man could be found. The lack of expert supervision is quite
generally recognized as one of the greatest weaknesses of our public-
school systems, and anything that will help to overcome this weakness
should be actively promoted.

And finally, state aid will greatly stimulate the introduction of agri-
culture, home economics, and farm mechanics into our public high
schools, and contribute materially to the success and permanence of this
work. This will be accomplished because higher salaries will be paid
and better teachers will be secured and retained. With the present
demand for teachers of agriculture it is almost impossible for an unaided
high school to secure an agricultural-college graduate and keep him for
more than one year. Competent teachers of agriculture command
higher salaries than those in any other high-school subject. One of the
state-aided schools last year paid its teacher of agriculture $1,400 and
its principal $950. It is not uncommon for agricultural-college gradu-
ates to get $1,200 to $1,500 the first year out of college, and in fact the
average salary of 95 such graduates in 1910 who accepted positions as
teachers or investigators was $1,017. Very few unaided high schools
would feel able to employ special teachers at such salaries.

But if agriculture is to be taught in public high schools, it is highly
important that good teachers, well trained technically, be employed and
retained year after year. There are numerous examples of high schools
that have developed excellent work in agriculture, helpful alike to the
pupils and to the farmers of the community, only to have it deteriorate
greatly or lapse entirely with the loss of the teacher responsible for
developing it. State aid would tend, and is now tending, to overcome
this difficulty by making higher salaries available and by creating a

STATE-AIDED DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 65

permanent general policy with reference to the development of high-
school instruction in agriculture. Agricultural- college graduates are
more willing to accept high-school positions in states committed to such
a policy. The building up of a well-paid and stable teaching profession
is a matter of the utmost importance in this country, and if the appro-
priation of a few thousand dollars a year by state legislatures will con-
tribute to this end and at the same time help to prepare young men and
young women for better service on the farm, in the shop, and in the home,
it is well worth trying.

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