PREFACE 



THE teaching of agriculture in grades below the high 

 school has become well established in our schools, but 

 opinions still differ as to the aims of the course and as 

 to how the subject should be approached. The aim 

 of an elementary course in agriculture is well stated 

 in a late report of the Iowa State Teachers' Association : 

 "to increase powers of appreciation, to promote general 

 intelligence, to give a basis for the formation of educa- 

 tional ideals and the making of vocational choice, and 

 to develop an appreciation of the possible applications 

 of science to the useful arts." The most logical ap- 

 proach to the subject is through nature study, for the 

 nature-study phase of agriculture, far more than the 

 economic phases, deals with simple realities in the lives 

 of boys and girls. Indeed, it is difficult if not impossible 

 to dissociate the study of agriculture from the study of 

 nature. 



The manner of presentation is also the subject of most 

 divergent opinions. There are those who contend that 

 farming can be learned only by doing. This suggests 

 the observation that a man might be employed on a 

 farm, carrying "out the instructions of another, for a life- 

 time, yet never come to understand the principles of 

 farming. Similarly, a pupil might raise vegetables in a 

 home-project garden, by simply following the directions 

 on seed packages, and the benefit would be to his health 

 rather than to his understanding. Yet, on the other 

 hand, it is absurd even to think of teaching agriculture 

 through textbook instruction alone. The reasonable 



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