TEACHER. This experiment was conducted some distance from Virginia, but do you think it may mean something to us? PUPIL. Yes; it illustrates what could be expected to happen if outside seed were used in Virginia. TEACHER. What would you recommend? PUPIL. Buy from Virginia or Maryland or from some place having the same growing season and climate. It is not safe to buy from distant States. TEACHER. In connection with the other factors under decision No. 2, what advantages would there be in getting seed from Virginia? PUPIL. The Virginia State law requires 90 per cent germination. Also our growing season is usually long enough to produce wellmatured corn. TEACHER. What range of prices did you find? PUPIL. We found Boone County White quoted from Kentucky at $3 a bushel. One man in Virginia quotes Boone County White at $3 which has 78 per cent germination and disease-free test. Other varieties are quoted at $3.50 by another dealer and the Virginia Seed Service, March price is $4.80 on Boone County White certified and $4.50 on uncertified. TEACHER. What can you say about the quality of the seed handled by the Seed Service? PUPIL. It meets all the State law requirements and is carefully selected as to purity and high yielding strain. TEACHER. Do you think a difference of a dollar or a dollar and a half a bushel on seed corn amounts to much if there is any question as to its quality? PUPIL. No; because the increased yield which you are likely to get from high-quality seed would many times pay for the difference. TEACHER. As to the decision "when to buy seed," what did you find out about the planting date? PUPIL. April 15 is about the earliest we can ever plant, so we should have our seed at least a few weeks before that in order to be sure to get it. TEACHER. What did you find out about the price fluctuation? PUPIL. The Seed Service price for January was $4.50 but the March price had advanced to $4.80 on the same variety and quality. TEACHER. What would you conclude from that? PUPIL. I would recommend a farmer to buy at once and another year to buy as early as January if there was indication of a large demand for seed corn such as there is this year. Probably it would be best to buy in January any year in order to be safe. TEACHER. Have you considered storage facilities? PUPIL. Any farmer could easily find a place to store that much corn safely. It is something he ought to look out for though, because he should keep it dry and protect it from extreme cold and from mice and rats. TEACHER. What shall we decide about how much to buy? TEACHER. Then would 36 quarts be enough for his 6 acres? TEACHER. What allowance would you make for some of it not growing? PUPIL. The seed law requires the germination of at least 90 per cent, so it would be well for the farmer to get at least 10 per cent more than he would actually need if all of it grew. That would make about 40 quarts. TEACHER. In view of the conclusions which we have reached from the other decisions, what would you say with respect as to where to buy? PUPIL. I think the Seed Service's reputation for reliability and getting good, pure, tested seed should count for a great deal. I would decide to buy from them. The net cost too, would probably not be very great because transportation would not be expensive. PUPIL. I should think for his own use the uncertified seed would be all right. He could save 30 cents a bushel and still get good strong corn. (Supervision and testing) TEACHER. Please write in your notebooks the facts on season, yield, cost, etc., which we have considered and state the conclusions reached on the basis of these facts. I want those of you who have projects to work out these decisions for your own conditions and explain if there are facts or conditions which you need to consider which are different from those which applied in Mr. S's case. I want the rest of you to do the same thing for your home farm and try to get your fathers to cooperate with you in getting some good seed corn this year. Comments and summary. Most jobs having to do with buying raise managerial problems since questions of kind, quality, amount, and cost arise. It is plain also that a farmer who had a good strain of corn that had yielded well and produced seed of good quality would not have occasion to perform this job. His job in connection with seed would probably be a well standardized operative job of field selection of seed corn. Likewise, a farmer might do the managerial job of buying seed once and then later use his own corn for seed, or he might establish an operative procedure which he would follow in succeeding years, such as regularly buying his seed corn from the Seed Service. With the above considerations in view some of the more important reasons for doing the job were developed in the preparation. In the presentation of the training content of a managerial job it is usually desirable to develop the analysis of content with the class, or in other words to have them supply from their own experience and thinking as much of it as possible. In teaching a lesson of Type IV we encounter a situation similar to that of a Type III lesson in that the procedure in thinking is the essential part of the lesson from the teacher's standpoint, although the job should also have vocational significance in itself to the pupil. In a managerial job, however, the thinking procedure is different from that encountered in an operative job. In an operative job conclusions are reached but by a method of discovery and practical testing rather than by a process of reasoning, forecasting, and counting the cost. In operative procedure reliance is placed more on the law of chances or on the fact that what has been tried and has succeeded in the majority of cases is likely to succeed again. The question of whether or not it will pay is not reasoned out but is accepted as a matter of fact on the basis of previous successful experience. In managerial work, past experience is considered in arriving at conclusions but chiefly as a suggestion of possible ways and means. The objective is not merely success of some sort in the undertaking but the largest possible return and the minimum of The decisions are made only after a careful evaluation of all of the factors. The efficient manager must know the factors which are most significant and essential in their bearing on the decision to be made. In order to apply the factors intelligently the manager must be in possession of specific and matter-of-fact data, or must know how to get them. The facts included in the training content should be the same kind of facts which a farmer would have to use in his actual planning, and in all cases should consist largely of specific information on conditions, data of observation, and experience, and an extensive knowledge of ways and means. The question may be raised as to whether or not a person can be trained in managerial ability. Of course any kind of training is conditioned upon the possession of certain inherent capacity and aptitude on the part of the learner, but the amount of doing ability in any line which a person may possess depends not only on his inherent capacity but also upon the training which he receives. A manager will fail if he does not know how to think in terms of a given situation or if he does not have the needed facts, or if he does not know how and where to get them. It is impossible to anticipate all possible situations which might occur and to give specific training in each, but it will be found that practically the same thinking procedure and the same kinds of facts may be used in a number of similar situations. Specific training in any one of these situations will serve as a type study applicable to any of the other situations in the group. Doubtless also, a person long accustomed to manage develops many mental short cuts, intuitions, and "standard practices" in thinking which correspond to skill in operative performance. But the learner can not take these short cuts in constructive thinking. He must be taught its procedure in all its elements. In the lesson under consideration more facts were desired than were available. However, enough were secured to warrant a conclusion, under the conditions of a piece of class work. It is important to note, however, that the same procedure would have been followed if additional or different facts had been secured. This makes such. a lesson particularly valuable because it will apply in other similar situations. Since the presentation was a cooperative activity of teacher and pupils, the practice may be considered in this case to have consisted in the individual summary of conclusions reached in terms of the facts at hand. Another way which could have been used would have been for the class to have made the decisions in the case of another farmer who wanted to get seed corn to suit his conditions. Following is an illustration of an individual summary as made by a student as a result of the lesson described: I would recommend that Mr. Sgrow Boone County White because it is well adapted to this section. On the average it is the highest yielding corn for good ground in this locality. The cost of seed is no greater than for other varieties. * * * Also their seed is grown in the State and is likely to yield better than seed grown in other sections of the country. I would recommend uncertified seed at $4.50 per bushel since it is 30 cents cheaper than the certified seed per bushel and it is equally as good in germination and probably in purity. This would meet his needs as he does not plan to grow certified seed for sale. He should buy his seed right away because the prices are going up and if he waits until near planting time he may not be able to get the kind he wants. He should buy about a bushel and a peck, or 40 quarts, because it is best to allow for about 10 per cent not germinating. The testing was to be accomplished by having those for whom it is practicable make their plans to buy suitable seed for their projects or for use on the home farms. PART II PRINCIPLES OF PROCEDURE IN TEACHING ON THE FARM JOB BASIS SELECTION OF TEACHING UNITS Vocational education in a farming occupation consists in instruction and training in the activities of the occupation and in the application of the ideals which should govern these activities. A competent farmer is one who can carry on the enterprises in the occupation in which he is engaged on a profitable basis. A farm job is a complete unit from the standpoint either of an occupation or of a teaching situation, since it is something which can be started and finished with relative independence of other activities. It is a unit whose character, dimensions, and requirements are real, concrete, and specific rather than artificial, general, or arbitrarily selected. It is a unit which demands a teaching layout in terms of actual situations rather than in terms of logical aggregations of information. It demands that the old adage "Knowledge is power" shall be interpreted to mean knowledge so associated with things and situations that it constitutes power or ability to act and to produce effect. The specific nature of farm jobs may be indicated from the following examples: Farm jobs in the enterprise of producing market milk 1 1. Determining the extent of the enterprise. 2. Choosing a breed. 3. Selecting the cows. 4. Selecting the bull. 5. Selecting the calves. 6. Planning a dairy stable. 7. Rearranging a dairy stable. 8. Equipping a dairy stable. 9. Feeding and watering milking cows in winter. 10. Feeding and watering calves in winter. 11. Feeding and watering the bull in winter. 12. Feeding and watering dry cows in winter. 13. Feeding and watering heifers in winter. 14. Feeding and watering cows on test in winter. 15. Feeding and watering veal calves in winter. 16. Pasturing milking cows. 17. Pasturing the bull. 18. Pasturing dry cows and heifers. 19. Pasturing the calves. 20. Soiling for milking cows. 21. Soiling for the bull. The analysis of this enterprise into the jobs was made by a committee of New York State teachers. |