CEEDIT FOR HOME PEACTICE IN AGEICULTURE. 15 



such methods should be adopted only with caution and when it is 

 impracticable to give real academic credit. 



What ratio for ijracticel — School courses which have included 

 laboratory work are often arranged for three recitation days and 

 two laboratory days in each week. On the laboratory days two or 

 more recitation periods are considered the equivalent of one pre- 

 pared recitation, and the ratio of recitation to laboratory is then 

 computed as 3 to 2. The school officials or whoever lays out the 

 course should first decide on what this ratio shall be. The next 

 point is as to how many hours of home work, not constantly under 

 supervision, is the equivalent of one prepared recitation. Possibly 

 an hour's work in the field is not the equivalent of an hour in the 

 laboratory where the work is under the direction of a teacher. Since 

 the class period in the grades is less than an hour, it may be fair 

 to consider two hours of home work the equivalent of one prepared 

 recitation period. 



How much credit ? — ^According to the plan mentioned, 72 boy-hours 

 of work during the year will be necessary for each credit to be granted 

 not to exceed five credits. Farm management studies and the analy- 

 sis of farm records have given certain averages which may be taken 

 as a guide under average conditions and may be modified to meet 

 exceptional conditions. Such modifications should be made by a 

 committee which might include, besides the teacher, the local superi- 

 tendent of schools, the county agent, and one or more representative 

 farmers. 



It is obviously an advantage to avoid disagreement at the end 

 of the project by settling at the outset how much credit wiil be granted 

 for a given amount of work. If the amount of labor usually re- 

 required for a given work is known or can be estimated in "man- 

 hours," then a decision that a prepared recitation is the equivalent 

 of two man-hours (or more or less) will fix the credit value of the 

 project. 



On the basis of a year of 36 weeks, 5 recitations a week or 180 per 

 year would be the equivalent of 360 man-hours per year in home 

 project work. This ratio needs revision whenever the discrepancy 

 between "man-hours" and "boy-hours" of labor becomes large. In 

 some types of work a boy is capable of greater progress than is a 

 man, while in other work the boy would make relatively slow prog- 

 ress. The boy should not be encouraged to do too heavy work on 

 his project, and where there are several new processes to be learned 

 it may be wise to count the boy's time at full value. Future records 

 of boys' labor on these different home projects wiU enable teachers 

 and superintendents to rate these projects more accurately, but very 

 many records will be needed in view of the diversity of boys' work. 



