CREDIT FOR HOME PRACTICE IN AGRICULTURE. 7 
To decide how much work is necessary to deserve such credits, 
proceed as in previous cases. Ina 36-week year each recitation period 
per week calls for 2 hours of home work, which is equivalent to 72 
hours of unprepared work, and a 5-hour recitation credit would be 
the equivalent of 360 hours of home work on the same basis. This 
appears very large and might be more than the authorities would 
care to recognize, lest it should tend to weaken the other school 
work. Two or three fifths of this will usually be considered high 
enough. 
There will rarely be found cases where the parents will not be 
interested in having the pupils take up home projects, but it needs a 
prearranged plan to insure the kind of cooperation which carries the 
project to a helpful and successful conclusion. The parents should 
make an agreement with the teacher before the work begins. It 
would be best to make a written agreement in which the project is to 
be outlined and in which the parents agree to certain essentials of 
cooperation which follow. Oral agreements are less satisfactory. 
ESSENTIALS OF COOPERATION. 
The parent should agree: (1) To permit the pupil to use specified 
land, animals, and equipment, either as a temporary owner or as a 
tenant so far as the needs of the project are concerned; (2) to grant 
the pupil the time needed for the work and to verify and vouch for 
the time record; (3) to instruct the pupil in the necessary manipu- 
lation so far as practicable; (4) to allow the pupil the profits derived 
from his own labor and management. The last point is not always 
feasible, particularly where the pupil takes up one phase of the main 
business of the farm, such as the weighing and testing of milk for 
a dairy herd. 
The parent must at least give an unbiased voucher of the time 
and expense record, and a statement that the project work was all 
done by the pupil. In the absence of an advisory committee or an 
inspector, the parent is the judge as to when the pupil has accom- 
plished a task successfully. 
Where the pupil’s time is much needed by .the parent in regular 
home duties it may be well to advise that the pupil take over some — 
part of that home work as a project. This will insure the cooperation 
of the parents, although the ‘‘managerial’’ income may not come — 
to the pupil. 
The school should not only give credit for work for which the pupil 
receives pay, but should consider the relative income or profit as one 
important factor in determining the school rank given on the project. 
To insure success, it will be very desirable to have a memorandum 
of agreement signed by all parties before the project begins; a report 
in full from the pupil, and a voucher from the parent at the end. 
