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IV. The Present Teacher.

The demand for teachers of agriculture was so sudden that there were no trained teachers to supply the demand. It was more a problem of who would teach agriculture, rather than who was prepared to teach it. It is then but natural that those who did teach fell below the ideal described in the preceeding chapter. It is almost immpossible to obtain accurate information of the preparation of the teacher of today. Robison made a study of this question in 1908 and received replies from 182 high school teachers whose preparation in agriculture he tabulated as follows:

No. claiming to have special preparation or qualification 143 No. disclaiming any special qualifications,

No. failing to report of special qualifications,

No. reporting on qualifications.

No. failing to report on any of these items,
Total no. of reports used in calculations,

No. reporting practical farm experience
No. reporting college courses in agriculture, e--
No. reporting college courses in science,
No. reporting normal courses in agriculture,

No. reporting unspecified theoretical instruction,
No. of graduates of college,

No. of graduates of college and normal school,

No. of graduates of college or normal school,
No. of graduates of normal school only,

12

19

174

8

182

77

29

41

14

24

81

8

7

49

No. not graduates of either,

No. not graduates of college,

No. failing to report of graduation,
Total of last three items,

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In 1911 the U.S. Bureau of Education collected infor

mation from 898 high school teachers of agriculture.

1) Robison. op.cit. p.102-3.

" Of these

2.

540 mentioned some academic training in general or agricultural training in particular; 72 others claimed no special

preparartion; and 286 did not comment on preparation."

126, including 38 principles or superintendents has spend at least a full year as students in an agricultural college

The

or had graduated from a special school of agriculture.
following table gives the tabulated answers of this study
compared with Robison's study of 1908.

No.of teachers in 1911

: %%

: No.: 1911: 1908

:

:

Reporting on all academic work...

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540 60.0:78.5

: 72 : 8.3: 6.5 :286: 31.7:15.0 :194 :

:

: 79 :

: 46 :

:

Claiming no preparation in agriculture,..
Making no commend on preparation..
Reporting college agrl training.
do. normal-school agrl training
do. summer school agrl training.
do. other secondary-school agrl training. : 9:
do. some training in theorectical agric. ..:328: 36.6:23.6
do. practical farm experience
:187 21.0:42.0
do. college science without college ag....: 95: 10.5:22.5
Reported as college graduates
do. as normal school graduates
Reporting normal-school work

:231: 25.7:44.5 : 82 : 9.0:27.0 51 : 5.6: 1.6

(1$

These figures give, at the best, only a very inaccurate
In the first place, only the better

picture of the situation.

schools were known and furnished information. It is probable
that the 286 who did not furnish information included many
who had no preparation to show. It is a hopeful sign that
at least 231 are college graduates.

Sources and shortcomings.

On the basis of preparation the teachers of agriculture may be roughly classified in three classes: the

1, Robison-Jenks.

Agrl instruction in high school. p.24-6.

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