43 



Adams Bill and Mondell Mixing School Bill. 



II. I*. Arnisby, of Peun.s.vlvania. offered the following resoiution : 



h'csolrcil. That the executive eoimnittee he instructed to continue its efforts to 

 secure the passage by C'tiigress <if tlie liill increasing the appropriatitm to tlie 

 agricultural experiment stations and the mining school l)iil. 



On motion of W. A. Henry, of Wisconsin, the executive coumiittee was in- 

 structed to appoint a time for the discussion of this sultject (see p. i>i). 



Standing Committees. 



The question of the status of standing committees was briefly discussed and 

 the matter was referred to the executive connnittee for report at the next 

 convention. 



Methods of Teaching AiiRictxTUKE — The Teaching of Agriculture in the 



Rural Schools. 



The ivp.irt of the committee on this subject, which discussed "• The teaching 

 of agriculture in the rural common schools." was read by II. T. French, of Idaho, 

 in the absence of the chairman of the committee, A. ('. True, as follows: 



III accordance v.ith the apparent wishes of the association as expressed in an 

 informal discussion of the repoi-t of this committee at the meeting in Washing- 

 ton last November, this ninth report of the commitlee on methods of teaching 

 agriculture a is devoted to a discussion on the feasibility of teaching agriculture 

 in the rural coimnon schools, and suggestions regarding the nature and extent 

 of such teaching. In this discussion the term "common schools" is taken to 

 mean schools giving instraction in grades below those of the high school, and 

 the term " rural schools " will include not only the schools in extremely rural 

 districts, but also those in villages and small towns which draw largely on the 

 adjacent country for pupils and financial support. It should also be understood 

 that in this report attention is confined to matters relating to the teaching of 

 agriculture in the rural schools as ordinarily organized in our laiblic school 

 system. We have not undertaken here to discuss the advisaliility of the estab- 

 lishment of county or district elementary scliools of agriculture as separate 

 institutions or the courses of instruction suitable for such schools. 



develop:mext of ixdu-strial traixixg IX THE uomjIox schools. 



Industrial training fts a subject for regular instruction in the common schools 

 has been until recently confined lai-gely to manual training in the city schools, 

 and even in these schools it is still far from l)eiiig fully developed. However, the 

 number of schools in which manual training (other than drawing) is given has 

 increased rapidly during the past thirteen years. In 18:h», when the Bureau of 

 Education first began publishing the statistics of manual training in the United 

 States, there were only 37 cities of 8,000 population and over in which manual 

 training was taught in the pul>lic schools; in 1!«»2 there were 270 such cities. 

 The schools referred to are those in which other subjects than manual training 

 are mainly taught. 'j In 2.5 of these schools manual training is given in all 

 grades, including the high school : in (U it begins with the first grade ; in 33 

 it is confined to the high school, and in 200 (more than three-fourths of all tlie 

 schools) it is given in some of the grammar grades. 



The introduction of manual training into courses of study which were already 

 crowded has involved proldems reijuiring close and careful study of the needs 

 of the pupils, and has generally resulted in greatly increasing the efficiency of 

 the schools in which manual training is now taught. The eft'ort has been made 

 to retain all the essentials of the branches commonly taught in such schools 



a For previous reports see U. S. Depv. Agr., OiMce of Experiment Stations Buls. 

 41. p. 57; 49. p. 20; 65. p. 70; 70. p. 30; 00, p. 80: 115. p. 50; 123, p. 45; 142, 

 p. C3, and Circs. 32, 37, 30, 41, 45, 40, and 55, 



t' There were also, in 10(t2, 103 schools devoted chiefly to m.iuual and industrial 

 •training. 



