12 



to train boys to be farmers, or is it to train them to go into other work? 

 Is its purpose specific or general? If specific, then the work should be 

 made more specific. If general, is there any reason for the equipment 

 provided for specific work, and is a cost which is excessively high for 

 agricultural training at all justifiable for general training? It seems 

 safe to assume that the purpose in establishing the school was to train 

 boys to be farmers and to better farm conditions. It is also safe to as- 

 sume that the boys in mind as beneficiaries were chiefly farm boys. It 

 has been asserted that the purpose was to give the city boy a chance to 

 learn agriculture if he so wished, but it is hard to believe that this is to 

 any great degree a "back to the farm" movement. 



If the school was established to reach the farm boy it is failing in its 

 purpose. 71 of 121 boys come from Milwaukee City, 25 more come 

 from other large Milwaukee County industrial centers. Of the re- 

 maining 25, part come from cities and towns outside of the county and 

 a part come from small towns or farms within the county. 



15 of 24 boy graduates are now doing some kind of agricultural 

 work. What becomes of the large number who never graduate is not 

 known, except that it is stated that most leave school to go to work, and 

 of these many go to farms. 



The school if it is to do its best work must get a larger proportion of 

 boys who have done and who expect to do farm work. It may be that 

 this is not possible. Every summer faculty members are sent out in the 

 field seeking students, and so far they have not succeeded in preventing a 

 decreased enrollment. The city supplies the majority of the pupils. 

 So far as the survey could learn the early criticism that the boys who 

 came from the city were the "bad boys" and "outcasts" of the town 

 does not hold true at present to a very great extent, tho it is probably 

 true that there are some of these boys in attendance. 



Not only must the school get a larger enrollment of farm boys but it 

 must get a larger total enrollment. The buildings and equipment are 

 extensive enough for a much larger number of pupils. So long as a 

 plant large enough to accommodate 300 to 400 runs with 1 1 8 the cost 

 must be excessive. If enrollment were increasing the outlook might be 

 more hopeful, but a steady decline since the first year does not indicate 

 that the school will be used to capacity for some time to come. 



The other phase of school activity in relation to the community is the 

 extension work. Is this filling a useful place? There is no doubt 

 that much of the work performed is of value but the total amount done 

 is not large. The greater part consists of extra classes at school in which 

 effort is made to get men, women, and children out for a few days or a 

 few weeks of special instruction. Women come from Milwaukee for 

 cooking, sewing, and millinery; rural teachers come for an eight Satur- 



