442 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



rocates, furnishing a part of the program. The girls in this par- 

 ticular home-making department gave a demonstration for the bene- 

 fit of the farmers and their wives. 



Now what are we to expect from this agricultural education in our 

 schools? Whenever any boy raises an unusually large crop of corn 

 or an unusually large crop of potatoes, immediately his name gets into 

 the newspaper, he gets considerable publicity. I am not so sure that 

 that is wrong; I believe that is a good idea. Sometimes we overdo 

 it, perhaps, but the harm that may come from this is that it may lead 

 some of us to believe that the real purpose of agricultural education 

 in our public school is the production of large crops. I am not saying 

 that these are illustrations of what the boys in our agricultural 

 schools are producing. Undoubtedly the boys who take strawberry 

 projects may increase those and get larger strawberries. They say 

 that two heads is better than one, even if one is a cabbage head; I 

 presume that would be true in this case, but, my friends, what is the 

 real purpose in the introduction of agricultural education into the 

 public scliool? I tell you, my friends, it is the boy and not agricul- 

 ture. The development of agricultural conditions, the improvement 

 of agricultural conditions, as important as it is and as necessary as it 

 is in some sections of the State, is a by-product, my friends, it is 

 a by-product only of the work of agricultural education in the public 

 school. It is the boy that is the key-note of the whole thing, and not 

 agriculture. Agriculture is a mighty important by-product; agricul- 

 tural education in -itself would be impossible without the necessity 

 for the development of agriculture, but it is not the production of 

 greater crops or better crops, it is the development of this boy, it is 

 because we wish to give this boy the type of education that he ought 

 to have. That is why agricultural education has been introduced 

 into the public schools. 



May I refer to that slide once more? I trust you have carried it 

 in mind; there are eleven boys in that class, in this particular school 

 represented by this slide. They usually graduated two or three boys 

 each year. This was a class of boys belonging to the junior class; 

 there are eleven boys in that class, not all in the picture. Nine of 

 those eleven boys were taking the course in agriculture in that high 

 school; eight out of those eleven boys were over six feet tall. None 

 of the boys in that class were less than five feet ten. The one boy 

 in the center of the picture was a boy imported from another class 

 merely to give you an idea of the size of the boys in the class. Why 

 do I mention that fact? Here is the reason; we must set some stand- 

 ard or some gauge by which we can measure the efficiency of this type 

 of education; we realize that. If we succeeded in holding those boys 

 who would otherwise have dropped out of school, who would have 

 received no high school education, it seems to me that we have done 

 one thing to justify the introduction of agriculture into the public 

 schools in rural districts. Again, may I refer to the fact, that prev- 

 iously this school graduated two or three boys only? In this class 

 there are eleven; eight of them are over six feet in height; this shows 

 that we are able to attract older boys, more mature boys, who would 

 have dropped out of school if it were not for the practical work there 

 offered. I think Luther Burbank has put it very nicely when, in 

 urging men tho stay upon the farms and engage in plant breeding 



