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VI. 



THE PROBLEM OF SECURING COMPETENT INSTRUCTORS 



FOR A SYSTEM OF AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS 



IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



It would seem evident from the preceding discussion of the 

 duties and the opportunities of the instructor in agriculture 

 that he is probably the most important factor in the training of 

 the youth for productive and profitable farming. 



Whether he be employed in a separate agricultural school 

 or as an expert in charge of an agricultural department in a 

 regular high school, the special instructor or supervisor in agri- 

 cultural education should bring to the work certain qualifications 

 as to preparation, experience and personality. 



He should be a Graduate of an Agricultural College. His 

 preparation should include graduation from an agricultural 

 college or its equivalent. He should be familiar with and keep 

 in touch with the officers and the work of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College and Experiment Station; and he should 

 keep in touch with the experiment stations in other States 

 where work is being done under conditions similar to those in 

 Massachusetts. 



He should be familiar with the work of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, so far as it is applicable to Mas- 

 sachusetts. He should be capable of keeping in touch with new 

 literature in pamphlet, periodical and book form, as it is issued, 

 and to the extent that it may be applicable to his locality. He 

 should be familiar with the work of organizations concerned 

 with rural progress in Massachusetts, and capable of heartily 

 co-operating with their officers. 



His Experience. Preferably, such a person undertaking 

 to prepare for agricultural teaching in this Commonwealth 

 should have been reared on a Massachusetts farm, or on a farm 

 where the agricultural operations would yield experience of 

 value for work in this State. He should be a master of farming 

 as a handicraft, and amply able to demonstrate the things which 

 he undertook to teach; and he should be familiar with, and 



