AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES. 25 



mature students who have not been able or inclined to prepare for 

 college, but desire instruction which will make them better farmers. 

 Since most of their students reside at considerable distance from the 

 schools, the expense of attendance is materially increased as compared 

 with that of the student who attends a near-by high school. Such 

 schools, therefore, will not be numerous and will not take the place of the 

 best high schools easily accessible to farm children who have completed 

 courses in the elementary schools and who because of their age and 

 other conditions should reside at home. 



The courses of instruction in agriculture in the special schools vary 

 considerably in duration and subject matter according to the agricultural 

 conditions in different regions and the size of the faculty and equip- 

 ment of the school. In general, courses in agriculture covering from 

 two to four years are combined with courses in English, mathematics, 

 elementary science, history, civics, and manual training to make a four- 

 year secondary course. Systematic practice in farm operations is 

 included in the agricultural course. 



\ A department of agricultural instruction has been organized in about 

 \2,ooo public high schools in the 48 States and in a small number of private 

 \schools. In each school there is usually a single teacher of agriculture. 

 In most of these schools the agricultural course covers only one or two 

 years, but in an increasing number of schools an effort is being made to 

 continue it through the four years covered by the regular high-school 

 program. The instruction varies from that which is largely practical 

 and truly vocational to that which consists chiefly of textbook and 

 laboratory work. Some of the schools have small tracts of land and a 

 few animals, but for the most part the practical work is conducted 

 on the farms where the students reside with their parents through what 

 are known as home projects. 



Since 1917 secondary agricultural instruction has been increasingly 

 influenced by the provisions of the Smith- Hughes Vocational Educational 

 Act. Under this act in 1917, $548,000 of Federal funds was allotted 

 to the States on the basis of their rural population for the salaries of 

 teachers and, supervisors of agricultural instruction. This amount 

 has been annually increased by $250,000 and this will continue until 

 1926, after which the annual appropriation will be $3,000,000. To 

 obtain these Federal funds the States must accept the provisions of the 

 act, after which they receive as much of their share of this fund as they 

 offset with State funds. All the States have accepted this act and many 

 of them have thus far contributed more than enough to entitle them to 

 their full quotas of Federal funds. 



The supervision of these funds is intrusted to State boards of vocational 

 education, by whom they are allotted to such schools teaching agriculture 

 as are approved by the State board and meet the general requirements 

 of the act as administered by the Federal Board for Vocational Education. 



