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oa PREFACE. 



LU 

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THE importance of the vocational element in education 

 "^has come to be generally recognized. In response to popular 

 o2 demand guided by professional advice, state and national 

 2 governments are back of this new educational development. 

 -j Educators are urging its wider adoption and its more inti- 

 mate application to the environment of the child. If voca- 

 tional courses are properly adapted to community needs, 

 u, their educative value is not only highly utilitarian but is 



2 also mentally disciplinary in the best sense of that phrase, 

 o The most wide-spread and most pronounced demand for 



~* vocational education is in our rural schools. Here the call 



e_ 



^ is for the teaching of the principles of agriculture. Farming 



as a vocation is subject to the same high requirements of 



present-day efficiency as are other vocations. This is 



>-. necessary economically so that we may be able to meet 



^ world competition. It is necessary socially so that each 



*may produce the materials of food and clothing to the 



greatest capacity of his farm. Agriculture is not hap- 



hazard farming. It is a science whose principles must be 



3 mastered before they can be intelligently applied. The 

 place to begin that mastery is in our rural schools. 



Even the teacher with little technical knowledge of the 

 subject and with limited experience can direct her pupils 

 into the ways of understanding if she is provided with a 

 proper textbook. This book should deal with fundamental 

 principles in a simple and an interesting way. Thus it 



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