This work should prevent him from seeing things small. It should give him an appreciation of the educational value of other studies and keep him from magnifying his specialty out of proportion in its relation to life. It should give him an appreciation of his duty to the State and to society, as a citizen, as an agriculturist and as a teacher. It should assist him in obtaining adequate recognition and respect for himself and his subject in the community in which he works.

Assuming agreement as to the needs of these forms of training for the vocational agriculture teacher, we are next confronted by such questions as:

"How long a time is required for this thorough training?"

"What proportion of the time of the training period is it desirable to devote to the different phases of training?"

"What subjects or courses may best be selected for study in order to give adequate training along each major line?"

"What should be the content of these courses?"

LENGTH OF COURSE DESIRABLE FOR AGRICULTURAL TEACHERS.

Graduation from a four-year college course in agriculture, accompanied by practical farm experience and followed by a year of graduate work, is the ultimate standard to be desired. Graduation from a four-year college course in agriculture in which suitable provision. is made for agriculture, science, humanistic and professional studies and training should be the standard accepted at the present time. The minimum training which should be required from a candidate for a position as teacher of vocational agriculture in a high school, even during the present time of inadequate supply of trained teachers, should be practical experience, at least two years of college instruction in agricultural subjects and some degree of professional training. This minimum should be considered and accepted only as a temporary expedient.

APPROXIMATE DIVISION OF TIME OF PROSPECTIVE AGRICULTURAL TEACHERS DURING TRAINING.

For purposes of discussion we have outlined an approximation of the division of time of prospective vocational agriculture teachers during a four and a five year course. Practical farm experience, though required, is not here indicated.

In both the four and five year course of training, the first two years will be devoted almost entirely to agriculture and related science studies. Probably no professional work will be given during this period and the humanistic studies will be confined to English and possibly history, American government and citizenship, and agricultural literature. Professional studies will naturally be distributed over the junior and senior year of the four-year course and over the third, fourth and fifth years of the five-year course.

In a four-year course, possibly not all of the humanistic courses noted can be given, but none of them should be omitted from a fiveyear course. The five-year course permits additional specialization in professional studies and in some preferred agricultural subject. It also gives opportunity for further studies in the humanities. That training along these lines is a distinct asset and its lack a handicap is not doubted by persons who have watched the work of agricultural teachers in any considerable number of communities.

NECESSITY FOR AND CHARACTER OF PRACTICAL FARM EXPERIENCE INCLUDED IN THE TRAINING OF THE PROSPECTIVE TEACHER OF VOCATIONAL AGRICUL

TURE.

In addition to work similar to that outlined above, practical farm experience must be required for vocational agriculture teachers. In high school departments of agriculture, there is commonly but one teacher of agriculture. He is the instructor in both farm work and in the agricultural science taught in the classroom. This necessitates practical farm experience and a knowledge of practical agriculture as a part of his training.

The exact character of the practical farm experience and the length of time which should be given to it is difficult to state as it is

influenced by various factors. Perhaps more than any other phase of a student's training, the needed practical farm experience is influenced by pre-college experience, by personal adaptability, etc.

However, we can state fairly definitely the results for the prospective teacher which should come from farm experience. This will help us to determine, both in a general way and for individuals, the character of the practical experience needed and the time which should be devoted to it.

The teacher-training aim of the required farm experience is twofold:

(a) To give to the teacher a certain degree of judgment and skill in the vocation which he is to teach; and

(b) To weave into his knowledge of agriculture a sympathetic, unacademic rural viewpoint.

It implies both knowing how to plow and the ability to decide when to plow; knowing when to spread manure, as well as how to drive the manure spreader; knowing how to readjust a worn machine, as well as how to set up a new one; good judgment as to whether to raise crops for human or for animal consumption— whether to keep live stock or to sell surplus feed. In other words, it should result in ability to answer practical farm questions in the light of practical farm experience.

In addition, the teacher should so know and be in sympathy with farm life, through practical experience, that he can mentally put himself in the place of farmers of the community and of the pupils he is teaching, and see things from their viewpoint.

As an approximation, we may state that the secondary vocational agriculture teacher should have, as a part of his equipment, two years of successful experience in farming, gained largely after he has reached the period in life where he can approximate the work of a man on a farm. A boy who has been reared on a farm and taken part in the business of farming as practiced at home and graduated from a college course of instruction in agriculture should meet this qualification. Yet a farm-reared man may fail to possess the desired training and viewpoint as a result of his experience. On the other hand, some town-reared boys may acquire it most satisfactorily during two years of practical farm experience. As indicated in Federal Board for Vocational Education Bulletin No. 13, since the Smith-Hughes Act requires that institutions training teachers of agriculture under the provisions of that act shall give training to persons who have already secured adequate vocational experience or contact in the line of work for which they are preparing themselves as teachers, or who are acquiring that experience or contact as a part of their training, it would seem that the institution should 97828-193

require at least a considerable part of this practical experience for entrance. The instruction at the institution could then be based upon a background of agricultural experience. However, in addition to the practical farm experience required for entrance, a certain amount of farm practice should be gained under guidance during the period when the student is securing his technical and professional training. It will probably, as a rule, be most convenient and satisfactory to arrange to carry on practice work during summer vacations, but in some cases it may be partly arranged for the college year.

A part of this practical farm work may, if desired, be in the form of definite projects, as in poultry raising, fruit growing, or dairying. This will be of especial value to the prospective teacher since he will later use the project method to such an extent in his teaching work. Farm practice work should also include experience in fundamental farm operations, especially those which may have been neglected during the student's pre-college farm experience.

In any case, the farm practice work carried on as a part of the teacher-training course should be as carefully planned as laboratory work, and with the individual student, his previous farm experience and his practical experience in connection with agricultural courses taken in college, kept constantly in mind. The student completing the work should possess a wide range of experience in farm arts. It will be of advantage to him if he has also initiated and carried to completion various practical farm projects.

CHARACTER AND CONTENT OF TECHNICAL AGRICULTURAL COURSES FOR PROSPECTIVE SECONDARY TEACHERS.

In selecting the agricultural subjects to be included in a college course for the prospective agricultural teacher, it must be remembered that what he needs is a broad general preparation. He needs to gather from the vast body of agricultural materials such parts as will form a desirable, well-rounded equipment. He does not want to be a specialist in some one field of agriculture. In fact, more than one man who has graduated from a good agricultural college has been so one-sided in his agricultural preparations as to be unable to teach the broad course in the high school.

It is not as easy to secure this well-rounded agricultural knowledge from the college course as might be supposed. In too many colleges, the work of departments is so highly specialized that, in order to get a general view of any given subject, as for example animal husbandry, the student is obliged to take many separate courses, as on the horse, sheep, swine, etc. There should be in every agricultural

department one well-rounded general or fundamental course for those who want this type of information.

In addition to broad general preparation in technical agriculture, it is very desirable that the man who goes out into the secondary school to teach should have a fairly thorough knowledge of some one department of agricultural knowledge.

The selection of one or two suitable courses, in as many departments or agricultural subjects as the limitations of time and schedules will permit will give broad general agricultural training. The selection of some one department of agricultural knowledge for intensive study will counteract any tendency toward superficiality. Through the study of the fundamental courses, the student obtains introductory knowledge over a wide range. Through the study of as many courses as can be arranged for in some one agricultural department, he gains a feeling of mastery and the courage of assurance of agricultural knowledge.

As it has been well said: "These two feelings, mastery and assurance, as by-products of his studies, will enable the teacher to capitalize all his equipment to better advantage."

CHARACTER OF SCIENCE SUBJECTS FOR PROSPECTIVE AGRICULTURAL TEACHERS.

In the selection of the science subjects for the prospective agriculture teacher, the guiding aim should be to give him a general view of the field of science and to familiarize him with agricultural applications of the sciences. Introductory courses in the pure sciences, as chemistry, physics, botany, geology, etc., will give him this general view. Courses in agricultural chemistry, economic entomology, plant breeding, plant pathology, etc., will familiarize him with and give him appreciation of the utility of the sciences to the agriculturist. CHARACTER AND CONTENT OF HUMANISTIC STUDIES TO BE INCLUDED IN THE TRAINING OF THE AGRICULTURAL TEACHER.

When we come to the selection of the humanistic studies to be included in the training of the agricultural teacher, we find the possibilities greatly limited by the amount of time available. Courses in rural economics, rural sociology, rural agencies or organizations, English, history and political economy or government, are imperative.

The agricultural teacher needs sufficient training in English to enable him to express himself in writing or speech with clearness and ease. He needs sufficient acquaintanceship with the subjects of his