798 EXPEKIMENf SfAttOK EECOKD. 



Inasmuch as proper supervision is admitted to be one of tlie most important 

 factors in a successful project, and tlie critical time for most projects comes 

 in the summer, high schools that do not employ teachers of agriculture for the 

 full year are placed at a disadvantage. Lack of training on the part of 

 teachers is another obstacle and brings up the question as to whether college 

 courses in agricultural education should give special training for project work. 



W. G. Hummel, in a paper on Greater Uniformity in High School Agricul- 

 ture, enumerated the following advantages: (1) The eliminating of "freak" 

 courses and valueless exercises and the inclusion of essentials duly propor- 

 tioned; (2) the betterment of the science courses, making possible organized 

 correlation of agricultural topics with the other branches of study, as for 

 example, between farm mechanics and physics in the last high school year; 

 (3) state aid can be allotted with greater fairness and effectiveness; (4) agri- 

 cultural colleges can better define and grant adequate credits for high school 

 agi-icultural work; and (5) students can more readily transfer from one 

 school to another. In summing up his paper Professor Hummel declared that 

 " there is no reason why agricultural work in the high school can not make 

 better men and better citizens as well as better farmers and better farming." 



Supervised Observation and Experience in the Preparation of Secondary 

 Agricultural Teachers was the subject of a paper by K. L. Hatch. In this 

 he discussed the academic, technical, and professional training of the prospec- 

 tive teacher of agriculture in high schools, favoring as requirements gradua- 

 tion from a standard college and a professional preparation equivalent to 

 fifteen semester hours credit which should include three semester hours credit 

 in special method and three in practice teaching. Three methods of giving 

 practice teaching are being utilized by agricultural colleges: (1) The moot 

 court, (2) the use of nearby schools, and (3) practice in teaching short courses 

 in secondary and collegiate institutions. In the moot court and nearby school 

 methods of practice teaching, however, the work is too limited, impossible to 

 supervise properly, difficult of administration, disruptive of regular classes, 

 and is artificial. The paper therefore held that the most satisfactory method 

 of giving supervised practice teaching in departments of agricultural educa- 

 tion in land-grant colleges is through secondary schools connected with the 

 colleges and teaching in college short courses. 



In a paper entitled Some Difficulties and Failures in Teaching Agriculture 

 in Secondary Schools, Milo N. Wood pointed out that the school board of the 

 community often expects too much in the way of immediate results or demands 

 that the work show a handsome financial profit. Frequently the difficulty 

 lies with the unpreparedness of the teacher for his work. Agricultural 

 teachers are sometimes expected to teach too many side lines, such as arith- 

 metic, chemistry, physics, music, drawing, and athletics, and time , may be 

 wasted in nonessentials, particularly in laboratory and school farm work. 



G. A. Bricker discussed The Content of the Course in Special Methods of 

 Teaching Public School Agriculture. In his opinion, standardization with 

 reference to the content of these courses should now be possible, although 

 there will be variations such as those due to the character of the local 

 agriculture, the educational laws of the State, the scheme of scholastic organi- 

 zation within the institution offering the course, and the personality of the 

 educator who is charged with its administration. By common consent, how- 

 ever, the course should include class room, laboratory, and field methods, the 

 literature of the subject, including reference matter and school texts, the 

 adaptation of special methods that are used in other school subjects, and an 

 outline of definite and concrete topics showing their proper sequence of presenta- 

 tion and their relative importance to each other and to the course as a whole. 



