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IX. Technical and Ceneral Training.

In most instances the course for the training of

teachers is only a modification of the general agricultural course and consequently will present a similar lack of uniformity with respect to courses in agriculture and general studies. There is no standard agricultural course. The committee on instruction in agriculture did formulate such a course (1), but most courses as they are now offered by the various agricultural colleges, differ as widely from the committee's course as the do from each other. Since the teachers' courses are very similar to the general courses, at least with respect the the general studies, the following analysis of the amount of the several studies required for graduation will give a general idea of the non-professional content of training courses.

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Percent required for graduation.
Minimum : Maximum: Average
2.9%.:...20.0%.:... 7.6%.

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Mathematics,

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12.5..... 7.5.
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4.5.

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48

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Modern Languages,.:...25
Social Sciences... : 39
Natural Sciences.....48
Agriculture,

..1.3..:...25.3..:... 5.8. :...41...:. 2.3.....48.2... 19.3.

Agr'l Engineering,:...39.
Elective,...

Read: 48 colleges require English for graduation, of these the lowest requirement is 2.9% of the total hours required,: 20% is the highest requirement; the average for the 48 schools is 7.6%, etc.

2)

&&

1, Rpt of Committee on instruction in agriculture.0.E.S. cir. no. 115, 1912. p.17.

2, Jenks. Agricultural courses in land-grant colleges. p.188-9.

IX.2

Agriculture.

Agriculture is obviously the most important study in a course of study for teachers. At first the colleges made no difference in the agriculture required for regular teachers and for prospective teachers. Now a number of them are realizing that the teacher needs a different training than the man who goes into farming or research. There is, however, no agreement on how the agricultural content is to be modified in order to provide the best training for the teacher. There are a number of questions still unanswered.

The first question relates the amount of agriculture

to be required. It has been shown above that amount pre-
scribed in the regular courses is on the average 30.8 % of
the course, that is may go as high as 47%. Of course the
better the preparation in agriculture the better will be
the teaching, provided the other studies receive proper
attention; but the total amount of training is fixed and the
problem is one of relative value rather than absolute value.
The minimum preparation in the major study required by the
Wisconsin Course for the Training of Teachers varies from
20 to 36 credit hours with 20 the most frequent number. Do
teachers of agriculture need more preparation in his major
study than the teacher of physics? Some colleges prescribe
as many as 20 credit hours, but the tendency is to limit the
amount to about one-third of the total number of hours. If
more is required, the other studies must be neglected.

The second question is: Shall the course differ in
the nature of the agricultural course? Storm has well summarized
the objections to the plan of giving agricultural teachers

the same courses as the other agricultural students:

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