Administration, Equipment, and Methods 



91 



an elective. It must be remembered that the term " elective " 

 covers a wide range of freedom. In some schools it is an 

 " alternative " rather than a free elective, to be taken in place 

 of, say, Latin. It is required in the " agriculture course " as 

 opposed to the classical course in two or three schools. One 

 school requires it in the science course. It is more apt to be 

 required in small schools, especially in those with a two or three- 

 year course, than in large schools. The reason is obviously one 

 of economical use of the teaching force. When two classes, as 

 the first and second, are consolidated or " doubled," it is evident 

 that a greater opportunity can be given in the way of electives 

 in this or in other branches, as that much more of the instruc- 

 tor's time is released for other recitations. 



The content of the subject, scarcely less than the method of 

 teaching it, is modified by the kind and amount of science pre- 

 ceding it or being studied parallel to it. Table 22 shows this 

 relationship between agriculture and the other sciences. The 



Table 22 



Distribution of Schools According to the Sciences Preceding 



Agriculture 



No. of schools 



Agriculture preceded by 



Biology 



Botany 



Chemistry 



Geology 



Physics 



Physical geography 



Physiology 



Zoology 



153 cases reported 



Reporting parallel science , 



Reporting no parallel science , 



Not reporting 



Total 



ol 



33 



6 



3 



16 



72 



617 



5 



108 



c3 



29 



9 



149 



a In many cases the botany partly precedes and partly follows the agriculture, which 

 is then taught in the winter months. This is probably true in a much larger number of 

 cases than I have record of. 



b There seems to be good reason to suspect that in many cases this was not high school 

 physiology. 



c One case of botany preceding or paralleling agriculture was counted as preceding it. 



