2 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Sclwols 



be available. From time to time some of the more important 

 inferences are pointed out. while in the last chapter a con- 

 sideration is given to some of the more pressing problems. 



Among these problems may be mentioned the following: The 

 need of more clearly defined ideas of educational principles 

 involved and the lack of a definite method of teaching the sub- 

 ject; the relation of agriculture as a branch of the curriculum 

 to the sciences already included in it; the question of duplication 

 between the work of the high school and of the elementary 

 grades; the attitude of the state universities outside the colleges 

 of agriculture; the bearing on agricultural teaching of the idea 

 of " differentiating school work at the age of twelve " ; and 

 the social implications involved in the special or technical agri- 

 cultural high school for large political units. Special secondary 

 schools of agriculture involve an expenditure of large sums of 

 money and the selection of a number of specially trained teach- 

 ers ; consequently they are planned, and \\n\\ be, for some time 

 to come, after careful consultation with the scientific and agri- 

 cultural experts of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 the state agricultural colleges, and the state department of public 

 instruction. But this expert advice has not been taken advantage 

 of to the same extent at least by the general, or non-specialized 

 public high schools of the small cities and rural communities. 

 Many of these schools have come to light in the present investi- 

 gation which were unknown to some of the public agencies 

 just mentioned and sometimes to all of them. The high schools 

 of this latter type introduce agricultural instruction because 

 they have faith in it, but they are hampered by lack of facili- 

 ties, time, and that experience or training on the part of the 

 teacher necessary to enable him to use the means at hand. 



It is in the hope that this study may serve in some measure 

 as a clearing house of ideas on these points that it is largely 

 devoted to an inquiry into the present status of agricultural 

 instruction in this type of schools. Some studies of other types 

 of schools are introduced for the help they may contribute to 

 an intelligent discussion of the non-urban high-school problem, 

 and are not intended to be exhaustive presentations of tiic work 

 of those institutions. 



