II. The Special Need for a Trained Teacher of Agriculture. 1, "Agriculture is probable taught as well as other sciences in the same school. But the deficiencies are more prominent on account of the greater opportunity afforded to make concrete the principles of the various sciences" (1) The unprepared teacher is not uncommon in the other subjects. Not only is the unprepared teacher of agriculture more evident for the reasons which' Robison gave; he is in greater need of preparation than teachers of other subjects. The se are able to teach effectively with little training in the subject matter and with no professional training. There are two reasons for this. First, They might have been taught by competent teachers, and by imitation have acquired the little skill required to teach a subject whose pedagogy well worked out, where there are texts and teaching aids which leave little work for the teacher who does not attempt the extra-ordinary, and where there is not the problem of organization. Any man with a reasonable amount of natural aptitude for teaching and with a fair average training should be able to teach any of the older high school subjects, even tho he has never (2) studied them himself, as well as the average teacher. With agriculture the proposition is more difficult. Monahan says: Agriculture as a high school science has not yet been developed into good pedagogical form and until such development has taken place a higher grade teacher is needed for the agricultural subjects than for any other subject in the Robison, Ågrl instruction in high schools. p.173 2, Judd. The department of education in American universities, School Rev. 17:597-8. 1909. ,2. high school curriculum". (1) Secondly, the teaching and the preparation are judged by entirely different standards. We are almost reconciled to the teacher of modern languages who cannot speak the language he teaches. Only in a few progressive communities is the science teacher expected to be able to analyse foods for their purity. Patrons are often unable to pass judgement on the knowledge of the teacher because they know nothing of the subject. But this is not the case in agriculture. Storm has pointed out two reasons why the unpreparedness of the teachers of agriculture is so noticeable. First, agriculture is a new-comer in the high school and the teachers of the older subjects will be very critical in their examination; secondly, the academic tradition to which has been (2) alluded. Not only are teachers more critical but the patrons, practical farmers, are very critical and usually competent to pass upon the qualifications of the teacher of agriculture. If his knowledge in agriculture is limited to that of many science teachers in the several sciences, he would not know enough to compete with the average farm boy. Agriculture is more than a science, it is also an art and a business. (3) The teacher must be trained in all three if his work is to meet with success. The science he might easily acquire by home study, at least enough to meet his needs. But this science must be applied to practice. 1, Monahan. The training of teachers for secondary courses 2, Storm. The unprepared teachers of agriculture. p.33 .3. It is not sufficient to know that clover will not grow in practice is feasible from a business point of view. The lack of pedagogical form is an additional reason for preparation, as has been mentioned above. It has been said that collegiate agriculture is in the same condition. Dr. True never allows an opportunity to go by without urging upon the colleges greater attention to this phase of their work. Ever since Dr. Harris so forciably presented the need for a "pedagogic form" for agriculture the teaching problems has been a Brequent subject for debate at the annual conventions of the Associations of American Agricultural Colleges. With secondary agriculture the problem is even greater. Very few problems have been solved. The teacher will have to work out his own salvation and should, therefore, be especially well equipped to cope with the problems which will arise. He must be a pioneer. To him we must look for the solutions of the problem of aim, the problem of method, etc. (1) To summarize, while we may grant that the teacher of agriculture is as well prepared as the average teacher in other branches and that alone would not permit us to be satisfied with his work, - a pseudo-training will be more easily detected, and greater preparation is needed because ****** cf. Bricker, Problems in experimental pedagogy of agric. |