VI,7.

states the amount of education is prescribed, as in Texas

where "four full courses" are required for a permanent State

Certificate,

A detailed report on the requirements for college

certificates does not fall within the province of this study ;

they are not restricted to agricultural teaching, but apply to all.

It will suffice to point out that agricultural

colleges will be somewhat restricted in the making of the

VII

The Evolution of courses for the Training of

Agricultural Teachers.

The colleges of agriculture have, on the whole, only

slowly and relectantly assumed the responsibility of training teach

ers of agriculture.

There are three reasons for this.

First,

many colleges held that agriculture in schools was neither neces

sary nor possible.

In their long struggle for a student body,

they had developed all kinds of short courses, farmers' institutes

and other extension devices for bringing the gospel of better

farming to the farmer.

The movement for agriculture in schools

a rose at the time when the colleces were beginning to draw stud

ents,

Their enrollment crew by leaps and bounds.

It is only

natural that the colleges should think that they were fully able

to give all the agricultural instruction needed.

Moreover, they

had no faith in the ability of the schools to give the kind of

agricultural instruction which would have value.

Secondly, they

had all the work they could do.

The sudden increase in their en

rollment taxed the resources of the colleges of agriculture to

the limit.

The demand for graduates was larrer than they could

supply.

There was no demand for teachers of secondary agricul

ture.

Why should they create a new demand when they were unable

to meet the present demand?

Thirdly, the colleges did not ap

preciate the value of professional training for teachers.

AS

they understood it, their mission was to discover new truths and

ma jority of the instructors had no formal training except that

provided in the regular college course in agriculture.

In the re

action against the early practice of neglecting agriculture, there was now a strong tendency to restrict the non-agricultural courses

in the curricuàa of the agricultural colleges to the minimum.

It

took some courage, in those days, to suggest that courses in ped

agogy and psychology might be offered.

Since the agricultural colleges are closer to the people

than are other colleges, they are usually quick to respond to pop

ular demand.

It likewise became apparent that much of the subject

matter taught was of secondary grade and should be relegated to

the lower school in order to make room for agricultýral instruc

tion of collegiate grade.

The extension departments now began to

give their attention to the public schools.

(1) Davis shows that the object of the early extension work

among public schools was a propaganda for arousing a favorable sentiment. The next step was to assist in the introduction of

the subject.

soon this work took on such proportions that the

regular college departments could not do justice to the work.

In some colleges, a special department was established for this