EDUCATION IN FORESTRY. 55 



Because of the long life of the woodland project it is important that the 

 annual reports be as detailed as possible, all data being included. As the re- 

 ports for a particular subject accumulate from year to year the teacher will 

 find in them a wealth of information which may be drawn upon for both class- 

 room instruction and project study. The teaching in fact can not function 

 as it should until these technical data have been assembled and put into 

 usable form. 



In a forest section where silvicultural activities constitute the principal 

 occupation of the inhabitants, as is true of certain of the national forest areas, 

 it could happen that 50 or even 75 per cent of the vocational course in agri- 

 culture might be devoted to the subject of forestry. In fact it needs but a 

 decision by the Federal board to make possible the establishment of silvicul- 

 tural vocational schools, similar to the Waldbauschule of (Jermany. In the 

 United States the policy has been to use college graduates in forestry for till- 

 ing ranger positions in the Forest Service, yet it is generally admitted that the 

 work of a ranger is vocational rather than professional in nature. The real 

 difficulty lies in the ab'sence of practice in the professional course, and it is 

 in an endeavor to correct this deficiency that professional students are advised 

 to accept ranger positions. While there are many so-called ranger schools in 

 the country they all require a high-school diploma for entrance, thereby plac- 

 ing themselves in the semiprofessional class and making themselves ineligible 

 to the benefit of the/ vocational education act. 



If the ranger schools of the country are to comply with the requirements 

 of the vocational education act, it will be necessary (1) to reach the vocational 

 standing by eliminating the high-school diploma entrance requirement; (2) to 

 offer preparation for useful employment (as a ranger, cruiser, woods foreman, 

 forest superintendent, etc.) which is adapted to the needs of persons over the 

 age of 14 years; and (3) to require supervised practice under field conditions. 



In the inauguration of vocational education in forestry the problem of teacher 

 training will be found to possess a significance similar to the place it occupied 

 in vocational agriculture. Vocational education demands new teaching tools 

 and materials ; the traditional lecture method of instruction can not be used. 

 Boys who require vocational education are " motor minded " ; they learn best 

 by doing. This means that teachers must be specially prepared to instruct 

 vocational students. No doubt the requirements as to the training will be 

 somewhat similar in forestry to those in agriculture. Under the Georgia State 

 plan the vocational teacher in agriculture must have had two years of practical 

 experience in farming since his fourteenth birthday, one year of which must 

 have been continuous; he must have had technical training in agriculture 

 equivalent to a four-year professional course; he must have had professional 

 training in teaching and education ; and he is required to have practical expe- 

 rience in teaching vocational agriculture. It is readily understood that the 

 teacher training division carries a large share of the responsibility in making 

 for the success of vocational education, since it is this division which recom- 

 mends both the technical and professional subject to be required of the 

 prospective teachers. Whether the teachers of vocational agriculture will give 

 any- time to woodland forestry will depend upon their own training, and this 

 in turn upon the courses in forestry required for the prospective teachers under 

 the State plan. 



If the statement is true that the future crop of wood of the eastern United 

 States will be produced by the farm woodlands of that region, is it not highly 

 important that the teachers of vocational agriculture the ideal builders of the 

 coming generation of farmers be* given adequate training in forestry? Many 

 of the men in charge of teacher training have had no training in forestry 



