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ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS 125 



school organization presents obvious advantages which the pub- 

 lic has already begun to realize. 



Attention should be given, in this connection, to the fact 

 that much misapprehension and undue concern exists as to the 

 plan of organization of the agricultural high school. A careful 

 analysis of the course of study of the average agricultural high 

 school will show less divergence from the plan of the ordinary 

 high school than many suppose. It will be found that the 

 courses of study are essentially the same in many particulars, 

 the chief difference being the substitution of agricultural and 

 household-arts subjects for the foreign languages, with perhaps 

 more emphasis on the practical side of the sciences and less 

 emphasis on certain phases of mathematics (165). 



One real difficulty in making the most of agriculture as a 

 school subject lies in the fact that there is little opportunity for 

 agricultural practice corresponding to shop practice in mechanic 

 arts. The most active season of agricultural work is during the 

 summer vacation. This difficulty may be met in the way already 

 referred to in the account of the Baltimore County (Md.) Agri- 

 cultural High School, where the teacher of agriculture devotes 

 the usual summer vacation period to looking after experiments 

 being conducted by the pupils. This matter has been carefully 

 studied by a special agent of the Massachusetts State Board of 

 Education and conclusions submitted to the legislature in the 

 form of a Report of the Board of Education on Agricultural 

 Education (166). Provision for proper farm practice as 

 recommended in this report is secured by part-time work 

 in agriculture which may utilize "home land, equipment, and 

 time, outside school hours, for practical training supervised 

 by the school." The scheme is worked out in considerable 

 detail by means of concrete examples of various "farming 

 projects" that may be undertaken. Among the major pro- 

 jects suggested are caring for a kitchen garden, keeping a pen 

 of poultry, caring for a selected part of an orchard, raising a 

 specified crop of potatoes, caring for one cow. Each major 

 project is broken up into minor projects. For example, keeping 



