120 AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



The agricultural-college type is well illustrated by the School 

 of Agriculture of the University of Minnesota. This school 

 has the distinction of being one of the first secondary schools 

 of agriculture. It was 



organized in 1888 with the object of giving practical education to young 

 men and women who are unable to pursue the full college course in agri- 

 culture. It offers a practical course of study designed to fit young men and 

 women for successful farm life, and aims to give its students the necessary 

 preparation for useful citizenship (152, p. 8). 



The district type is found in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, 

 Oklahoma, and Virginia. The districts in each of these states ex- 

 cept Oklahoma correspond to the several congressional dis- 

 tricts. The objects of all these schools are similar and are 

 summed up in the following statement concerning the Alabama 

 District Agricultural Schools which were the first of this type 

 of schools to be established : 



To turn out young men well grounded in the underlying principles of 

 scientific and practical agriculture, that they may make successful planters 

 and advance the farming interests of the state. 



To give such instruction and training as will fix in the minds of the 

 young men high ideals of country-life education, as is done in the best agri- 

 cultural high schools under the name of "agriculture and home economics." 



To educate and fully equip young men and women for efficient teaching 

 in the public schools of the state. 



To prepare those who desire to enter higher institutions of learning 



(iS3, P- I5)- 2 



The establishment of county agricultural high schools is now 

 authorized in at least twenty-three states. In many of these 

 states such schools receive state aid. The county schools of 

 Wisconsin are the oldest and best known. In the Wisconsin 

 schools 



the courses are two years in length and include subjects of general agricul- 

 ture; biology and physical subjects; laboratory and field and shop work; 

 domestic science, home economy, and hygiene; sewing and millinery; farm 

 management and accounts, besides courses in English, history, civics, and 

 other branches of the usual high-school type (151, p. 23). 



See Georgia District Agricultural Schools (154). 



