406 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



rural high school or a county or district agricultural school should 

 not be less thorough and wide." 



As a means of developing bettei" trained instructors, this commis- 

 sion recommends increased efforts on the part of the agricultural 

 colleges in this direction. It maintains that the Canadian agricul- 

 tural colleges have aimed to educate young men to go back to the 

 farm, whereas those of Europe definitely profess to train young men 

 for professional service in connection with agriculture and rural life. 

 Inasmuch as " the need for capable and thoroughly trained men is 

 already so great that the present capacity of the agricultural col- 

 leges would not suffice to meet it for several years to come," it ap- 

 pears to the commission that " the agricultural colleges maintained 

 by public funds should devote themselves chiefly to the education 

 of those who would serve the rural community. Under present con- 

 ditions it does not seem probable that any large percentage of the 

 working farmers can be spared from their occupations or can have 

 opportunity to take a full course at an agricultural college. The 

 helpfulness of the agricultural college can be carried to every com- 

 munity through the labors, knowledge, and character of men and 

 women who are trained at the college for professional service; and 

 it can best serve the rural population through the education of such 

 men and women." As a means to that end it recommends the devel- 

 opment of courses for the preparation of teachers qualified to carry 

 on the science and practical work in connection with the intermediate 

 rural school, rural high schools, and county or district agricultural 

 schools, and of district instructors who in addition to technical and 

 practical instruction in agricultural work would receive training in 

 the art of teaching and in the administration of affairs in rural com- 

 munities. 



The foregoing summary necessarily covers only a portion of the 

 large amount of material embraced in the extended reports of these 

 commissions, but it is thought that it may none the less prove of 

 service in directing attention to these interesting documents. Al- 

 though some of the conclusions of the commissions may seem already 

 familiar to many educators, and others may be received with some 

 differences of opinion, the reports as a whole are entitled to serious 

 consideration, especially as representing the views of official bodies 

 appointed for the specific purpose of inquiring into this great ques- 

 tion of the development of vocational training. They are also of 

 special importance as the practically contemporaneous expressions 

 of national commissions of two countries with much in common in 

 their educational problems, and they should, therefore, be of unique 

 value in aiding in the solution of some of the intricate problems 

 involved in the development of secondary agricultural education. 



