23 



a. Local Support. The school should be established and 

 equipped by the local community, by a town or city, or by a 

 group of towns or cities, or towns and cities formed into a dis- 

 trict. This should insure economy of construction and adapta- 

 tion to local needs. The local community should provide, also, 

 one-half the cost of maintenance. 



~b. State Support. One-half the maintenance cost of these 

 schools should, in accordance with present statutory provisions, 

 be borne by the State. In consideration of State support, the 

 school should be subject to supervision and approval by the 

 Board of Education as to organization, control, location, equip- 

 ment, courses of study, qualifications of teachers, methods of 

 instruction, conditions of admission and employment of pupils 

 and expenditures of money. 



C. Conditions of Admission and Promotion. All applicants 

 for admission above fourteen years of age should be received, 

 provided, after a brief probationary period, they proved able to 

 profit by the instruction. 



Advancement from subject to subject or from class to class in 

 farming subjects should be dependent solely upon the proficiency 

 of the pupil in such subjects, and not upon his standing in Eng- 

 lish, history or other similar studies. Upon withdrawal from the 

 school, whether upon graduation or earlier in the course, every 

 student should be given a certificate containing a statement of 

 the work which he had satisfactorily completed. 



D. Teaching Staff. a. Vocational Spirit. The teaching- 

 staff must be in complete sympathy with the vocational purpose 

 the school is designed to serve. The instructors should be chosen 

 from those who have found, or who intend to find, their life work 

 in this field of education. 



b. Fitness. Aptitude for teaching fourteen to eighteen year 

 old boys of exceedingly practical interests and tendencies is indis- 

 pensable. One may succeed as a teacher of men, and fail as a 

 teacher of boys. One may succeed in a cultural school with 

 book subjects, yet utterly fail in teaching practical subjects in a 

 vocational school. To natural aptitude must also be added spe- 

 cial training in the science and in the practice of different kinds 

 of farming. 



c. Originality and Resourcefulness. In devising and lead- 



