V* * • • s \ * J** ■ s.9 .s 5 * vPb *\*L^-% „4 c> 1-0^ *^ O^ "> - • * ^O , V J ,0° *"0 y ;- ^d« c> v^ '\ ,-f ^o< ^^, v ; AN OBJECTIVE METHOD FOR DETERMINING CERTAIN FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES IN SECONDARY AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION EDGAR C. HIGBIE Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Philosophy, Columbia University. AN OBJECTIVE METHOD FOR DETERMINING CERTAIN FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES IN SECONDARY AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION EDGAR C. HIGBIE Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Philosophy, Columbia University. / 5.AY I AN OBJECTIVE METHOD FOR DETERMINING CERTAIN FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES IN SECONDARY AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION INTRODUCTION There is a tendency to distinguish somewhat sharply be- tween general education and vocational training for farm boys. Whether this is advisable may be an open There is a probable question. However, it aids in simply- advantage in distin- fying the problem of curriculum-making guishing rather in that we can decide more easily what sharply between knowledge really functions in a particu- general education lar phase of instruction. Using such and vocational knowledge as a basis we can then more training. readily derive the necessary principles and devise the best training courses. Ihe ideas of minimal essentials and job analyses are com- ing to be especially helpful in what they can contribute to the field of secondary agricultural instruc- Nature as well as tion. 1 One cannot, however, press the nurture needs con- study of these problems very far without sideration in educa- realizing the importance of another line tional questions. that will not permit itself to be disre- garded when questions of materials and methods are under consideration. Kelly feels that nature is more important than nurture in deciding certain educational prin- ciples. 2 Educational and vocational direction have been receiv- ing much attention in city schools and urban trades and indus- tries, but the writer is beginning to think that "fitness for farm- 1. They are helpful, not in determining all that should be taught but rather in aiding in the selection of the vital from the mass of available material and organizing it into problems, pro- jects, units, etc. 2. Educational Guidance, by Truman L. Kelly, Ph. D. — Teachers College Contribution to Education, Pages 13 and 72. 6 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING ing" must be studied as well as "training for farming." Any- one familiar with rural life recognizes that some men are na- tural-born farmers, successful even with very limited oppor- tunities and training. They progress rapidly through the hired man, the tenant and the mortgage stages to independent owner- ship and wealth, as wealth goes in farming. "You just can't keep some men down" applies in this as well as in other occu- pations. Behind the farm management factors of size, diversity and productivity are personal qualities that may condition suc- cess and that may need consideration in curriculum-making, or boy-training, to a larger extent than has yet been recognized. So many men succeed without special training; so many fail with everything, apparently, in their favor. Are there special qualities which tend to insure success? If there are, how can they be determined? And when known, can they be induced, developed or grafted on to the ordinary individual? Or, can they be pre-determined and become the basis for effective vocational direction? If there are definite characteristics or qualities that tend to appear in the more suc- cessful portion of the farming population, what relation have they to the selection and organization of subject matter — indeed to the whole scheme of secondary agricultural education? It is in the hope of opening up this more or less unex- plored field that the present study has been pursued. In arriv- ing at the stage of the inquiry indicated Subject — matter above the following steps or questions needs early atten- have been considered : How shall pro- tion in educational spective instructors be properly trained for considerations. successful agricultural teaching? The further the study of this question was carried the greater seemed the necessity for answering a sec- ond question, namely, how can basic questions in teacher-train- ing be disposed of without more surety as to what shall be taught? This, of course, necessitates delving into the secondary agricultural subject-matter problems and here again is confu- sion. Secondary curricula as imitations of college curricula, or more often merely "reduced portions" of collegiate subject-mat- ter, were far from satisfactory. What shall we teach? How RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 7 shall we teach? Shall we train for general agricultural intelli- gence or for specific production? The further these studies were urged the more confusion seemed to result. 3 Finally, so far as subject-matter is concerned, this question presented itself: Would it be possible to determine what specific facts or prin- ciples really functioned in successful agricultural production? The answer to this is important, as the results of this study will clearly show and an outline plan for the determination of such working knowledge will be given later. Leaving for the present any further consideration of subject-matter problems, let us state the final question, already suggested and forced into the study, as being vital to the whole field. Do men tend to succeed in farming by virtue of their physical capacity, their special skills, their mechanical abilities, their general education, their command of technical facts, or by virtue of a special type of intelligence conditioning ability to plan. Can the type of man to organize, to risk, etc? In a word would that tends to sue- it contribute to the discussion if the type ceed in farming be of man could be "brought into the clear" "brought into the — the type that tends to succeed even with clear"? a minimum of training, and regardless, sometimes, of much preliminary experi- ence? Would it, perhaps, help to change the focus of our teach- ing from that of imparting useful knowledge about soils, crops, stock and the like to that of training the boy, trying to consider and organize that training around such possible factors as man- agement, business ability, etc? Furthermore, would it give us a basis for directing some boys into such agricultural specialties as poultry raising, truck gardening, and green house work if they appeared to lack those managerial qualities that the general farmer seems to require. 3. At this point the idea of a job-analysis, applied so well by Allen to trades and industries, seemed to offer a way out of the maze and the writer would like to call attention to some ex- cellent work being done by Kent and Williams in applying this method. He believes that they are overcoming what might be urged as an objection to the Allen idea, namely, that it applies directly to the worker in industry rather than the manager. The farm job is a complex approximating the managerial type some- what more than even the skilled labor type of occupation. 8 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING The Successful Farmer. The determination of the chief characteristics of the suc- cessful, all-round farmer becomes, then, the first and in some ways the most important question to be The characteristics attacked. In view of the possible value of the all-round gen- of the method used in this study for de- eral farmer as op- termining characteristics in other types posed to the speci- of farming, such as poultry raising, alty farmer need truck gardening, fruit growing, etc., or consideration. even in totally different occupations, the procedure will be given in considerable detail. 4 The following characteristics, qualities, conditions, or abili- ties were chosen after considerable thought as being the most usable and valuable for study. The definitions were carefully and briefly drawn so as to obtain as clear-cut comparison as possible. 5 Each quality will be known throughout the study by the letter preceding it in the definition list. A small letter "r" with two succeeding letters in parentheses will be read as tht correlation between the two items on this list that the letters represent. For example, r(fi)=.732 will mean that the correla- tion between financial success and native intelligence equals .732. (i) Native Intelligence: Original mental ability re- gardless of education or special training; mental alertness, thought power. (e) General Education: Schooling or education ac- quired either in or out of school ; formal or self-education. (n) Agricultural Information: Working agricultural knowledge or facts acquired by attending an agricultural school, short courses, institutes or by reading farm papers, bulletins, etc. 4. The reader is requested to focus his attention on the method at first rather than on the results obtained. Later an attempt will be made to interpret the data as well as to justify their reliability. 5. Other qualities such as industriousness, character, na- tivity, etc. were taken into consideration, but the natural limits of the study prevented any further extension of the list. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 9 (m) Managerial Ability: Efficiency in organizing farm work and balancing the factors of production; planning, fore- sight. (k) Field and Chore Skills: Working to advantage as in teaming, pitching hay or bundles, shouldering sacks of grain, etc. (c) Mechanical Ability: Ability to construct or repair farm tools and devices. (b) Business Ability: Buying, selling, bargaining, ac- counting. (p) Physical Capacity: Strength and endurance in the prime of life regardless of present health or age. (u) Unpaid Family Labor : Free help from wife or chil- dren in the production of crops, etc. To the above were added two others to be considered more especially as criteria. (f) Financial Success : Ability to make money in pro- ducing crops, raising stock, or the like. (v) Community Value: Citizenship, good living stand- ard; substantial worth in* the life of the community. If the reader will work out a sample from his own experi- ence like the one given in Form A, he will be in a much better mental position to understand the method and follow the later development and implications of the study. 10 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING FORM A. a Names Finance Physical Delta (Disguised) Success (f) Capacity (p) Differences W. B. 13 11 minus 2 R. R. 4 4 G. Z. 3 3 T. H. 6 5 minus 1 W. W. 11 12 plus 1 A. W. 10 8 minus 2 N. S. 5 1 minus 4 R. D. 1 2 plus 1 A. K. 7 6 minus 1 H. F. 2 13 plus 11 R. T. 8 7 minus 1 S. M. 12 9 minus 3 L. V. 9 10 plus 1 SG=±14 A blank sheet of paper may be ruled roughly like Form A. In the left column the names of thirteen farmers should be written. These should be men actually (or very recently) living on farms, mak- ing their living from farming and with whom the person rating is well acquainted in their home, financial and community relationships. Reading the definition for financial success as given on page 9 choose the man who best fits the description, that is, the man who is most successful in making money by raising crops, stock, etc., and place a figure "1" after his name in the column headed "Finance Success." Then re-read the same definition and choose the man who is the least successful in this respect. Place a Groups of farmers may be rated ac- cording to excel- lence or accomplish- ment. 6. The data used in Form A were taken from the report of a Kansas senior in Farm Management and therefore represent an actual group of farmers — men with whom this senior is well acquainted in their home, farm and community relationships. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 11 figure "13" after his name in this same column. Next decide which man should be considered as second most successful and place a figure "2" after his name. Likewise decide who should be considered next to the least successful and place a figure "12" after his name. Continue this, working from the extremes, until the numbers "1" to "13" appear in the "Finance" column representing the numbering of the men were it possible to stand them up before one in the order of their financial success. Follow this same procedure for "Physical Capacity" as defined. Again imagine the thirteen men to be standing in line before you. The order would be some- The Spearman "foot what different. W. B. (See form A) e. g. rule" formula pro- would be transferred to a position two vides a simple meth- places up from the lower end of the scale. od for obtaining de- The next two men would hold their old sired correlations places. T. H. would go up one place. W. from the data at W. would go down one place. N. S. hand. leaves fifth for first place. H. F., a very successful man financially, goes to the lowest place so far as physical capacity is concerned. In spite of this one considerable change, together with several lesser ones which keep the balance, you will feel that as a whole there has not been any very decided re-arrangement. The two sep- arate rankings of the men are not very dis-similar. This like- ness, or unlikeness, as the case may be, can be measured — can be weighted and stated as a single number. The "Delta Column" gives the basis for this measurement. The positive differences must always equal the negative differences. The total of either may be known as Summation G(SG). Applying the Spearman Foot Rule Correlation formula 7 the value of this mutual relation- 6SG 7. R=l . SG in this case equals "14" and n (num- n 2 — 1 6x14 ber of men) equals "13." R— 1 =.500. It is custo- 169—1 mary 1o state the Spearman values in terms of the Pearson formula values and in this case R(fp)=.500 or r(fp)=.732. See pages .167 to 177 Thorndike's Mental and Social Measurements. 12 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING ship is found to equal .500, or in terms of Pearson's formula, .732. If there were no change in positions of the men SG would equal zero and the correlation would be perfect and equal plus 1.00. If the positions were completely reversed the correla- tion would approximate minus 100. If they were purely random, SG equalling 28, the correlation would be zero. This then de- fines the limits and determines the central point of a scale which, if stated in tenths covers twenty steps 4- 1 000 from -}-l-00 to — 1.00. 8 The correlation r(fp)=.732 obtained above then may be conceived of as appearing well up toward the top of this scale and therefore should be considered as high in value. With this particular group of thirteen men (as- suming the rankings to be perfect) the relationship between financial success in farming and physical capacity is very marked. + .900 + .800 + .700* + .600 + .500 + .400 + .300 + .200 + .100 .000 — .100 — .200 — .300 — .400 — .500 — .600 — .700 — .800 — . 900 — 1.000 Just what this correlation means may be determined by considering a question like this : "Is physical capacity as defined on page 9. a cause of financial success, as regards this particular group, or is it mere- ly a concomitant- characteristic that hap- pens to rank high. Relationships or cor- relation may be high without necessarily being causal. We should scarcely say that financial success was a cause of physical capacity, yet a 8. When n=13, as a matter of fact, it is impossible to reach —1.00. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 13 correlation is often considered both ways. Remembering that farming involves much heavy lifting like pitching hay, should- ering sacks of grain, etc. and often long Relations between hours, demanding much endurance, one characteristics or is inclined to believe that physical capa- qualities may be city tends to be a "causal factor" in mak- causal or merely ing money in farming. Just how im- concomitant. portant a factor will be discussed when more evidence is in. So far we are only asking for a clear understanding of a rather simple process for obtaining, in the form of a single arithmetical weighting, the possible relationship between such illusive (and often other- wise immeasurable) factors as the ones listed. To find the ab- solute correlation between financial success, e. g., and physical capacity the investigator might first need to obtain a large group of farmers whose labor incomes had been determined by the usual farm management survey methods. Then arrange- ments would have to be made to subject each one of these men to a physical examination, the results of which would have to be stated in the form of an index figure representing the com- posite findings of the test or examination. Obviously, such procedure is well nigh impossible. Continuing to disregard for the present any consideration of the accuracy of the ratings or the value of the relationships suggested, let us describe the further steps followed in gather- ing the total data. Form B, given below, was decided upon after repeated try-outs with many groups. The data included were furnished by a senior in Farm Management in one of the Middle Western Agricultural Colleges. These, as well as all of the data from which basic conclusions are drawn, were obtained by the writer handling classes or groups of men in person at a number of universities, so that the procedure was sufficiently well stand- ardized as to make comparisons possible. The classes were asked to follow directions "on faith" until the period was nearly over so as to prevent any attempt to guess at the desires of the investigator. There was no intimation of what was to come 14 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING out of the exercise until the main portion of the data was com- pleted. Then a sample rating was worked out before the class and the method explained as fully as pos- Procedure was sible in the short time available. After standardized and giving the work to several hundred peo- carefully guarded. pie and discussing many angles and ques- tions from instructors and bodies of keen students, the writer is convinced that there were few constant errors that might seriously affect the ultimate results. 9 The men were seated as in a regular class or laboratory period. Each man was asked to make a list of fourteen or fifteen farmers whom he knew very well — preferably neighbors in his home community actually engaged in producing crops or stock or both for market. From this list thirteen names were finally copied in the left hand column of Form "B". After a careful reading of the definition for each column, each group was ranked for all of the columns, the completed report appearing as shown. Finally each student stated at the bottom of his report sheet that all of the men were farmers, and that he knew them very well. He also indicated the type of farming most nearly characteristic of the entire group. Reports without these statements or having material modifications were not used in the final computations. 9. Under the later discussion of reliability certain unavoid- able and perhaps not very serious weaknesses of the method will be discussed. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 15 9n I*A XjmnuiuicQ - - w .1 piBduQ .... ... r^'troioM00'Hrgv0MN0\O X}ijiqy ss9uxsng rO^fOO^^vO'HOOCJNN't A^ijiqy |BDIUBqD9]^ rHVOfOtSOOON'HO'tlONNfO s llPlS 9Joq3-ppi^ ^MTtO\--»C'-— 1 T— 1 1— < |— 1 (qsiM noA" }i pasmSsiQ) S9UIBJSJ « « N ffi ^ ^' C/i Q «' fe H* ^ >' ^' g < h ^ < £ « < ffi « w h4 16 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING The next step in the procedure is concerned with obtain- ing the "Delta" columns and Summation G's for the several relationships desired. First, Financial Success, being used as a criterion, the Delta differences between it and each successive column (See Table I) are obtained from the data in Form "B". The accompanying Table II is composed of correlation coeffici- ents as worked out from these same data. In order fully to un- derstand the steps in what is to follow, it would be well for the reader to work these correlations through checking the results with Table II. TABLE I. Delta Columns from Data of Form B. 8 f&i f&e f&n f&m f&k f&c f&b f&r f&u f&v —12 —12 —2 +1 —3 + 1 +1 +8 +2 +1 ±1 +1 —2 —2 —2 -2 o +3 +1 +4 +1 —1 —3 +1 —1 —4 —1 —1 —2 —1 —2 —1 +1 +1 —1 +6 +1 —4 +2 +4 +1 +4 +1 +9 +1 +5 +1 —1 —3 +1 —1 —4 +3 —1 +11 +3 +11 +6 +1 —1 +4 —1 —1 +3 +4 —9 —10 —3 —10 —8 —1 +4 —5 +1 +3 +2 ±2 ±5 ±2 ±1 ±24 ±29 ±7 ±14 ±19 ±16 9. "f" in each case is financial success used as a criterion with such other qualities as intelligence, education, etc. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 17 TABLE II. Summation G's, Spearman Coefficients and Pearson Coefficients. Relationships SG's R's r's f & i 2 .928 .995 f & e 5 .822 .965 f & n 2 .928 .995 f & m 1 .964 .998 f & k 24 .143 .242 f & c 29 —.036 —.071 f & b 7 .750 .932 f & p 14 .500 .732 f & u 19 .322 .514 f & V 16 .429 .654 As stated previously, f and i indicate the relations be- tween financial success and native intelligence ; f and e, or n etc., substitutes education or information, or the other qualities for intelligence. Each successive column may be used as a criterion and delta differences between it and all other columns may be found. This it will be noted, makes it possible to obtain a great many inter-relationships or correlations — in the present study as many as forty or fifty will be found valuable. The symbols r(fi), r(ie), r(in), etc. will be used to indicate the correlations between (f) financial success and (i) native intelligence, between (i) native intelligence and (e) general education, between (e) general edu- cation and (n) agricultural information, etc. r(f etc.) means that financial success may be used as a criterion with all other characteristics; r(v etc.) means that community value may be similarly used with all other characteristics. Continuing to assume that the rankings as given on the various Form B's are correct for each particular group, it is necessary to multiply the number of groups ranked many fold in order to overcome the influence of such variable factors as 18 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING size of farm, amount of capital, location, quality of soil, market- ing- facilities, etc. Therefore the final data used for this part of the study cover ratings of over one hun- Many separate dred fifty groups in several middle west- groups were rated ern states. Many more groups than this to overcome local number have been rated, but the data ful- variations. filling the requirements already stated alone have been used in the final conclu- sions. It may be interesting to note that, as a rule, each group represents a particular community and that these communities are widely scattered throughout a number of states. Separate studies of the correlations for each group show wide variations among the groups together with many significant and interest- ing peculiarities. This would be expected by any one at all familiar with farm life. Since communities and groups of farmers vary to such great degrees, it is necessary to combine the results for all of the groups in each relationship. This is done by finding the median of all the correlations for each particular relationship. The r's for each summation G, however, need not be computed. Since summation G's may appear in values from to 42, these may be arranged as a scale and the frequencies of the various values listed against this scale. The median of these frequencies is easily found 10 by counting in to the mid-point and noting at which summation G on the scale this appears. This summation G will give the correlation desired. This correlation is the cen- tral tendency of the relationships for all of the groups ranked. In the present study one hundred and fifty or more summation G's for each characteristic are listed from which such central tendencies are taken. 10. See Chapters III and IV in Thorndike's Mental & So- cial Measurements. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 19 SG 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 (22) Frequencies Frequencies Totaled 1 1 1 3 1 6 5 6 6 10 6 11 8 11 10 SG 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Frequencies Total Frequencies Totaled 7 11 7 7 11 5 2 2 3 1 1 5 1 3 1 1 154 1 An illustration of this is given. The scale with the fre- quencies for the relationship between financial success and phy- sical capacity appears above. Behind the particular relationship as given on Form A, page 10 were a group of thirteen Kansas farmers. The summation G=±14 for this group appears as one of the five check marks at the right of the number 14 on the scale. This summation G, representing thirteen men, is only one of the 154 summation G's, each representing separate groups of thirteen men. The mid-point of the frequencies on this scale 11. The median will be found to be at point 22 on the scale by counting down the frequencies 77 points. 20 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING is at SG 22. Substituting this value in the formula as given on page 11 and solving, r(fp) is found to equal .354. Thus behind this finally accepted total value for the relationship between financial success and physical capacity there are 154 different groups of thirteen men or 2002 different farmers scattered from Ohio to Oklahoma. In the following table (Table III) there- fore, each correlation (r) should be conceived of as being the central tendency value for all of the groups rated. Moreover, as will appear later in the study, this value would probably ap- proximate the value were 2,000,000 farmers rated instead of 2,000. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 21 tx 2) rf VO 8 rl- Tj- VO tx 00 o LO 1-1 o 9n FA LO tx v£> ^5 IX LO -xfr VO CM X}iunuuucQ (A) joqnq g 99JJ (n) tJ- tx tx r— 1 «t tx ■tf" jBDisXqj LO T-H o tX to \o LO (d) CO eg CO q CO LO CO ^i|iqy 1—1 vO CM \o ,— 1 CM <<*■ (q) O 00 o 05 tX o o 00 CO IX LO ssauisng A";qiqv CO ^t <* "tf- "t ^ rf tx T-H i-H 1— < LO LO (3) , ^ c o "«* '"5 1-1 ™ nagen ity icultur rmatio -T-l ^ X u hanica ity iness ity sical acity .2 3 fcl/2 ■fl > rv O rt 5-° ^ g ^^ ,_^ ^^ s-^ ^^ i*-c > a. 22 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING Preliminary Interpretations. Ability to make money, financial success in farming, will be taken as the first criterion in discussing possible conclusions from the data given in Table III. Placing in order of size the various correlations with financial success that order is as fol- lows: 12 r(fm)=.848 r(fv)=.587 r(fb)=.801 r(fe)=.514 r(fi)=.732 r(fc)=.472 r(fn)=.700 r(fp)=.354 r(fk)=.677 r(fu)=.192 In their relationships with financial success, the qualities defined on pages 8 and 9 may evidently be grouped as fol- lows: Important Less Important Managerial Ability Community Value 13 Business Ability General Education Native Intelligence Mechanical Ability Technical Information Physical Capacity Field and Chore Skills Unpaid Family Labor From these data it is readily seen that such qualities or characteristics as managerial ability, business ability, native in- telligence, skills, etc. rank high and are of evident importance in attaining financial competence. On the other hand, education, mechanical ability, physical capacity and unpaid family labor, although positive in value, are of less importance in productive farming. All of the characteristics listed, except community value (which was introduced to be used as a broader criterion) 12. Remember that "f" in each case refers to financial suc- cess and that r(fm)=.848 should be read as r(fm) and conceived of as the correlation between financial success and managerial ability. Similarly r(fu)=.192 is read r(fu) and is the value of the correlation between financial success and unpaid family la- bor. 13. Not to be thought of as a cause; rather a criterion. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 23 might act as causal factors. If so, the order and relative values become interesting. One often hears the intimation that large families with women and children work- The relative order ing at chores or in the fields are essential of t h e causal fac- to financial success. The older native tors of success is stock sometimes resents the coming of important. the newer, more prolific races into their communities and apparently forging ahead in spite of educational deficiencies and early finan- cial limitations. Rating for unpaid family help in produc- tion was obtained merely to get a check on this point. The ap- parently low value of this relationship, r(fu)=.192, which may be interpreted as meaning that help of that kind, beyond the community average, is not generally necessary for success, per- mits us to disregard it as liable seriously to affect any conclu- sions that may be needed in the development of educational prin- ciples. The correlation between financial success and physical capacity r(fp)=.354, is also so low as to eliminate itself in the matter of immediate consideration. It will, however, appear later as a minor factor of interest in its possible relationships to skills and mechanical ability. Very different, however, are the relationships between financial success and managerial ability, business ability, techni- cal information, etc. It is possible to conceive of men lacking in one or more of these qualities, apparently achieving success, but a closer study of conditions would probably reveal other factors operating, such as exceptional start, splendid soil, advantageous location and the like, which would tend to over-balance special personal handicaps. With such, more or less uncontrolled, fac- tors favorable plus good managerial and business ability backed by a fund of practical, working facts, what might be the success attained ! Undoubtedly all of the characteristics listed, except com- munity value, are direct causal factors of success in the order given. Size of family and physical capacity often backed up by non-American standards of living, however, do not take the place 24 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING of importance that is sometimes ascribed to them. If these cor- relations hold (and they will be subjected to further tests and analyses), farming takes its place in the social order not only as a skilled type of work but as a profession requiring- direct managerial and business ability conditioned by special intelli- gence and training. The kind of training as an educational question will receive its merited attention later in the study. If it is objected that financial success is too low a stand- ard or criterion, it will be noted that the inter-correlation r(fv)=.587 indicates that financial success Financial success is and community value (see definition) a proper criterion. have a decided tendency to go together. Further, technical training is undoubtedly training for production and financial success is a result and pos- sible measure of production. Production, it may be added, is the usual measure of success in industry. Considering community value, not so much as a criterion but as to its conditioning elements, the following correlations are of interest: r(vi)=709; r(ve)=.654; r(vn)=700. These indicate that a man's value to his neighborhood is rather highly dependent upon or coincident with his native in- telligence, his technical information, and his general education. Incidentally this same man seems to possess rather positive qualities as a business man and as a manager. Continuing this method, one might discuss all of the basal and inter-relations, using each quality successively as a criterion, but this would be chiefly a matter of social interest and would not bear so directly upon the educational interpretations toward which the study is progressing. So far we have considered re- lationships between two qualities only. There remains a further step of special value in this type of investigation. Partial Correlations. Partial correlations offer one of the most interesting and valuable aids in interpreting the data at hand. Their possible use in analyzing out some of the more illusive factors and char- RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 25 acteristics of various types of industry warrant a somewhat de- tailed description of their application to this particular study. Partial correlations aid in eliminating disturbing factors — distortions that occur because of the difficulty in rating pure qualities and relationships. Moreover, this Partial correlations very value in separating out the unde- provide a method of sired or disturbing elements makes it pos- analyzing charact- sible to analyze, to break them up into eristics. their elements. They provide for ex- ample, a method of analysis of such a complex as managerial ability. Their use may be illustrated by considering the pure relationship existing between financial suc- cess and field and chore skills. The definitions for field and chore skills and for mechanical ability seem to involve very dif- ferent concepts but both characteristics have to do with handl- ing external things — horses, tools, machines, and the like. It is very probable, therefore, that one's ratings for skills may be more or less mixed with one's rating for mechanical ability. If so, can the mechanical part of the skill be cast out of the rela- tionship? Or, to consider it as a chemist might in manipulating the elements in an experiment, can it be held constant or con- trolled while the other elements are eliminated or used in vary- ing relationships? Can the pure relationship between financial success and skill be determined while the mechanical element, that may be included inadvertently or by the very nature of the composition of desirable qualities due to valuable common ele- ments, is held in abeyance or control? Referring again to Table III, the following values may be found r(fk)=.677, r(fc)=.472, r(kc)=.654. These values may be called total values. In spite of Desirable qualities the large number of judgments behind may have common them there may be a constant tendency elements. to confuse skills and mechanical ability. Moreover, as suggested above, there are undoubtedly actual relations due to common elements that can- not be separated. From a common sense view this is very evi- dent. It is desirable to know, however, in deciding questions 26 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING of subject-matter, how much time should be devoted to develop- ing farm skills, how much to training in carpentry, engine repair, and the like. What is the "pure" relation, we are anxious to dis- cover, between success in farming and field and chore skills? The following formula 14 provides a method of getting rid of the purely mechanical part of the relation and r(fk) :c may be read as the correlation between financial success and field and chore skills with mechanical ability eliminated, equalized or controlled: r(fk)-[f(fc)Xr(kc)] r(fk) :c= VI— r(fc) 2 VI— r(kc) 2 Substituting the above values in this equation, it takes the form : .677— (.472X-654) r(fk) :c== .8827X-7599 Solving, r(fk) :c=.549. This indicates that there was some confusion or constant error — the total correlation r(fk)=.677 being in this case reduced in value to .548. On the other hand, what effect may a conception of skills have on a conception of mechanical ability? Solving similarly we find r(fc) :k=.052. This is rather startling. Does it mean that no mechanical abil- ity is needed on the farm? Obviously not, but it may mean that a peculiar type of mechanical ability is needed that tends in rating to get badly mixed with skills. At least, it opens up the question of kind of mechanical ability and any one familiar with actual mechanical knowledge needed in operating a farm knows that carpenterial ability as shown by a cabinet maker or house carpenter is not particularly desirable. Moreover, one may im- mediately call to mind instances where mechanically-minded farmers who purchased threshing rigs often finally lost not only their machines, but their farms as well. Suffice this correlation to show that the question needs attention if we are to devise 14. See "An Introduction to the Theory of Statistics" by G. Undy Yule, Chas. Griffin & Co., Ltd., London ; Chapter on Par- tial Correlations ; also Mental and Social Measurements bv E. L. Thorndike, pages 180-182; and Educational Guidance.' T. L. Kelly, Ph. D., Teachers College Contributions to Education. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 27 proper training work (manual training?) for farm boys. On the other hand, a real consideration of training for field and chore skills is shown to be needed, for over half of the people rated are probably farming with limited abilities in this respect. Again one is lead to ask how much physical capacity enters into this question of skills? Can we eliminate that also? 15 Sub- stituting the physical capacity correlation for mechanical ability, we use the following: r(fk)=.677, r(fp)=.354, r(kp)=.567, and solving the new equation r(fk) :p=.618. Again we are inclined to remember that it was not always the strongest boy that shoul- dered the sack of grain most easily or held out best in the long day's stacking work. One step further: Can we get both of these confusing factors out of skill, that is can we find the value of r(fk) :cp? Using the following formula: r(fk) :c-[r(fp) :cXr(kp) :c] r(fk) :cp= VI— r(fp) 2 :c \/l— r(kp) 2 :c we find that r((fk) :cp=.5l5. This tends again to back up the idea that there is a special farm type of skill that needs to be sub- jected to special study. Whether it is an innate ability or can be taught is also an important question. Two or more disturbing factors may be successively elim- inated. The formula for r(fi) :e n m, etc., will be the highest one used for this study. 16 In order to promote accuracy and facility it is desirable where a large number of relations are to be consid- ered to adopt a standard form of procedure. Table TV illus- trates this method. Column 1 is the total or partially cleared correlation; column 2 is the numerator of the formula; column 3 is the denominator, and column 4 is the new or cleared, result- ing correlation. 15. "Eliminate" or "cast out" should hereafter be consid- ered in this larger aspect suggested above. 16. r(fi) :en — [r(fm) :enXi*(im) :en] r(fi) :enm= \/l — r(fm) 2 :en yi — r(im) 2 :en 28 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING The use of Kelly's tables will greatly facilitate the compu- tation work. 17 Several of these should be studied through to obtain the full force and value of the method. Procedure with it tends to do away with skepticism that naturally at first arises. Table V which follows is taken from the computations as indi- cated for Table IV, the last column or the cleared correlation only being selected. 17. Bulletin of University of Texas No. 27, 1916. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 29 c o +J rt "«*■ u S-. £ c 3 U O — U OJ u a u y 3- rs. 91 II ll > > ^ o G rt G *- 5 £ ^2 X .J, g ON r— < 1_T> oj G LO 00 .'J c Q\N CO \o 00 CO CO N CO VO CO CO 00 00 vO vo 00 N CM ^ XX XX ^H co vO 00 00 o ^f CO t-i CO co \0 JJ CO CO CO co On On XX LO O CO o CO O CO 00 vO CXI lo CM co O CM CXI CO co O ^t CXI o CXI *-i cx< cx< CO CO XX XX Tf CM ^h CO LO t^ O CM O co r% co SCO CM o o CO CO XX VO CM ■5" co On O co ^F G o G +-> bx) CO 30 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING TABLE V. r(fi) =.732; r(fi) :e=.604; r(fi) :n=.451 ; r(fi) :m=.229 r(fi) :en=.525 r(fe) =.514; r(fe) :i=— .047; r(fe) :n=— .110; r(fe) :m=.000 r(fe) :b=.061 ; r(fe) :in=— .319; r(fe) :im=— .143 r(fn) —700; r(fn) :i=.35l; r(fn) :e=557; r(fn) :m=. 134 r(fn) :b=.278; r(fn) :ei=.458 r(fm)=.848; r(fm) :k=.714; r(fm) :p=.824; r(fm) :i=.649 r(fm) :e=.786; r(fm) :n=.675 ; r(fm) :c=.795 r(fm) :b=.572; r(fm) :ie=.656; r(fm) :in=.586 r(fm) :en=.679; r(fm) :ic=.636; r(fm) :kc=.713 r(fm) :ib=.508; r(fm) :eb=.580; r(fm) :nb=.522 r(fm) :ien=.554; r(fm) :kp=.728; r(fm) :cp=.785 r(fm) :ip=635; r(fm) :ik=.564 r(fk) =.677; r(fk) :m=.221 ; r(fk) :c=548; r(fk) :i=.430 r(fk) :p=.618; r(fk) :im=197; r(fk) :cp=..515 r(fc) =.472; r(fc) :k=.052 ; r(fc) :i=.163; r(fc) :m=. 079 r(fc) :p=.396 r(fb) =.801 ; r(fb) :m=.386; r(fb) :n=. 592; r(fb) :i=. 555 r(fb) :e=. 717 r(fp) =.354; r(fp) :i=. 198; r(fp) :k=050; r(fp) :c=.226 r(ie) =.732; r(ie) :n=.356; r(ie) :p=.749; r(ie) :b=.527 r(ie) :v=.501 ; r(ie) :m=.522 r(in) =.732; r(in) :e=.356; r(in) :b=.403 ; r(in) :m=.334 r(in) :v=.469. r(im) =.772; r(im) :e=.605 ; r(im) :n=.475 ; r(im) :k=.615 r(im) :c=.684; r(im) :b=.428; r(im) :e=.605 r(im) :en=.523; r(im) :p=.744 r(ik) =.606; r(ik) :c=.412; r(ik) :m=.145 RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION TABLE V— (Continued) 31 r(ic) =.514 r(ic) :k=.196; r(ic) :m=.213 r(ib) =752 r(ib) :e=.568; r(ib) :n=.463 ; r(ib) :m=.350 r(ip) =.307 r(ip) :e=.374 r(iv) =709 r(iv) :e=.443; r(iv) ;n=.404 r(en) =.801 r(en) :b=.659; r(en) :v=.632; r(en) :m=.658 r(en) :i=.567 r(em)=.606 r(em) :i=.094; r(em) :n=— .031 ; r(em) :b=.255 r(era) :in= — .243 r(ek) =.414 r(ek) :c=.206 r(ec) =.414 r(ec) :k=.206. r(eb) =.606 r(eb) :n=.049; r(eb) :m=.255 ; r(eb) :i=.124 r(ep)=.071 r(ep) :i=— .237 r(ev) =.654 r(ev) :i=. 281 ; r(ev) :n=.217 r(nm)=772 r(nm) :b=.454; r(nm) :e=.604; r(nm) :k=.626 r(nm) :i=.475 ; r(nm) :ie=.516 r(nv) =700 r(nv) :e=.386; r(nv) :i=.376 r(mk)=700 r(mk) :e=.621 ; r(mk) :c=.556; r(mk) :i=.458 r(mk) :p=.648; r(mk) :ic=.414; r(mk) :n=.480 r(mc)=.514 r(rac) :i=.213; r(mc) :p=.444; r(mc) :ik=— .022 r(mc) :kp=.101 r(mb)=801 r(mb) :n=.541 ; r(mb) :v=.691 ; r(mb) :i=. 521 r(mb) :e=.691 r(mp)=.354; r(mp) :k=— .073 ; r(mp) :c=.213 ; r(mp) :i=.193 r(mp) :kc=— .070 32 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING TABLE V— (Concluded) r(mv)=.606; r(mv) :b=.255 r(kc) =.654; r(kc) :i=.502; r(kc) :e— 581 ; r(ke) :p— 588 r(kc) :m=. 478; r(kc) :im=465 rfkp) =.567; r(kp) :c=.471 ; r(kp) :m=.477 r(cp)=.354; r(cp) :k=— .027; r(op) :m=.213 ; r(cp) :km=— .019 r(bn) =.732; r(bn) :i=.403 ; r(bn) :e=. 520; r(bn) :m=.298 r(bv) =.606; r(bv) :m=.255 r(nk)=.587; r(nk) :m=.103 r(cp)=.354; r(cp) :m=.213 RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 33 Further Interpretations. In order to be sure that the reader understands the source of the data for Table V it will be well to review the succes- sive steps that have led up to it. Form The successive A, Page 10 gives the ratings on two of steps leading up to the eleven characteristics that were de- Table V need to be fined on pages 8 & 9. This is for one clearly understood. group only of thirteen farmers as reported by a Kansas Senior. It is thus simplified to show the method of obtaining the summation G's by finding the delta differences between the positions of the men in their own group. The SG obtained gives the datum for use in the Spearman "Foot Rule" formula described on page 11. The one other unknown quantity needed being n 19 or the number of men rated which in this study remains constant at thirteen. Form B given on page 15 is the blank on which the data for all of the groups were obtained. One hundred fifty-eight of these consti- tute the original data of this part of the study. Table I, page 16, shows how the successive SG's, using financial success as a criterion, were tabulated. Similar tables were obtained using each of the characteristics or criteria result- ing in over forty delta difference columns for each of the one hundred fifty-eight Form B's. Table II page 17 shows the tabulation of the successive SG's, the "Foot Rule" coefficients and the resulting Pearson coefficients for the relationships using financial success as a criterion. 20 Table III is the first composite table and contains the completed and finally accepted, total cor- relations. The characteristics listed across the top are to be con- sidered in relation to or in correlation with the successive cri- 19. Not to be confused with the "n" used to denote "informa- tion" as a characteristic. 20. The computation of each of these coefficients is un- necessary (see page 17) so that these tables will not appear as a matter of record. 34 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING teria at the left. 21 They should be read as follows : The corre- lation between financial success and native intelligence equals .732; between financial success and managerial ability equals .848; the correlation between education and intelligence equals .732; between education and skills equals .414; and so on for all of the relationships listed. Finally Table V gives the resulting partial coefficients as obtainable from the data of Table III. Table III alone is of great interest and value and pro- vides a source for important principles of curriculum-making. Table V with its possibilities of further extension, however, pro- vides almost unlimited material for study in this field. The out- standing points only will be discussed. Let us approach the study of the data of Table V from the standpoint of the relative importance of The data of Table the causal factors of success as described V may be studied on pages 22 & 23. The highest factor — from the standpoint r(fm) equals .848, managerial ability — is of the apparent rel- evidently the major cause. From the ative importance of table let us select all of the financial the causal factors success-management correlations that of success. have been computed : r(fm) :p=.824 r(fm) :n=.675 r(fm) :c=.795 r(fm) :i=.649 r(fm) :e=.786 r(fm) :b=.572 r(fm) :k=.714 Using the data having only one characteristic eliminated or held constant it is readily seen that business ability enters more largely into the financial success, management relationships than does any other quality while physical capacity affects the rela- tionship least of all. Again native intelligence stands next to business ability in importance while mechanical ability stands next to physical capacity in lack of importance. The factors of importance and more or less non-importance may be listed as follows : 21. Let it be constantly remembered that each value given in this table is the mid-point value of one hundred fifty differ- ent correlations. It is the central tendency of all of the rela- tionships that were obtained for the particular relationship in question. Important (b) Business ability (P) (i) Native intelligence (c) (n) Technical information (e) (k) Skills RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 35 Less Important Physical capacity Mechanical ability Education The conclusion from these data seems very clear : The good farm manager is possessed of good business ability and a high native intelligence supported with a fund of technical informa- tion and considerable skill. On the other hand physical capac- ity, mechanical ability and general education take positions of less importance in the analytic break-up thus attempted. Let us select certain further partial correlations of interest from Table V and arrange them in order of size of the coefficients : r(fm) :cp=785 r(fm) :in=.586 r(fm) :kp=.728 r(fm) :eb=.580 r(fm) :kc=.713 r(fm) :ik=.564 r(fm) :en=.679 r(fm) :ien=.554 r(fm) :ie=.656 r(fm) :nb=.522 r(fm) :ic=.636 r(fm) :ib=. 508 r(fm) :ip=.635 In this list the elimination from the financial success-man- agement relation of mechanical ability and physical capacity re- duces the value very little — r(fm) equals .848; r(fm) :c equals .795 ; r(fm) :p equals .824, and r(fm) :cp equals .785. It is clear, also, that mechanical ability is a stronger factor than physical capacity in affecting what deduction is obtained. Considering likewise the next highest partial correlation a similar result is found— r(fm)=848; r(fm) :k equals.714; r(fm) :p— 824; r(fm) :kp=.728. Skill, like mechanical ability, enters more largely than physical capacity into the financial-management re- lation. Approaching these from the other end of the list we have r(fm) :ib=.508. Evidently intelligence and business ability en- ter the relationship in question very decidedly. The partials r(fm) :b=.572 and r(fm) :'i—.649 indicate that business ability is the stronger of the two. This probably means that business 36 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING ability has many elements in common with managerial ability while native intelligence may be considered as an important causal factor of both. Arranging a second list of relatively important factors or combinations of factors, we have the following: Important. Less Important Intelligence — business Mechanical — physical Information — business Skill — physical Intelligence — skills Skill — mechanical Education — business Education — information Intelligence — information Intelligence — education Intelligence — physique Intelligence — mechanical The elimination of the intelligence-education-information combination, r(fm) :ien=.554, considered in the light of r(fm) :i =.649; r(fm) :n— 675 ; r(fm) :in=.586; r(fm) :ie=.656; r(fm) :en =.679; and r(fm) :e=.786 seems to indicate that education is not a requisite element in the relationship. Again let us list all correlations having managerial ability used as a criterion : r(mi) :p=.744 r(mi) :n=.475 r(mb) :v=691 r(mk) :i=.458 r(mb) :e=.691 r(mi) :b=.428 r(mi) :c=.684 r(mn) :b=.454 r(rak) :p=.648 r(mc) :p=.444 r(mn) :k=.626 r(mv) :b=.255 r(mk) :e=.621 r(me) :b=.255 r(mi) :e=.605 r(mp) :c=.213 r(mn) :e=.604 r(mc) :i=.213 r(mk) :c=.556 r(mp) :i=.193 r(mb) :n=.541 r(me) :i=.094 r(mk) :n=.480 r(me) :n=— .031 r(mn):i=.475 r(mp) :k=— .073 The management-intelligence relation remains little af- fected when physical capacity, mechanical ability and general RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 37 education are successively eliminated. On the other hand it is much further reduced if information or business ability are taken out. The management-business relation is less affected by the presence of the general education factor than by the informa- tion factor. The management-skill relation is little affected by the presence of the physical or the education elements, slightly more by the mechanical element, and still more by the information and intelligence elements. The management-information relation is less dependent upon skills and education than upon native intelligence and business ability. The management-education relation is low at all times but the elimination of information and general intelligence fac- tors more seriously affect it than the elimination of the business factor. These partial correlations substantiate the first impres- sions regarding the importance of the managerial factor in farming. Moreover they enable us to analyze the farm man- agement characteristic into some of its elements. Of most im- portance in good management are those qualities that condition good business power. A quality common to both business power and managerial ability and probably indicative of the necessity of considering original nature in farm-training is na- tive intelligence. At all times this characteristic maintains its importance. This is noticeable even when business ability and information are eliminated and it is probable that such reduc- tions as are indicated by the series r(mi)=.772; r(mi) :n=.475 and r(mi) :b=A2S are due to common elements rather than elim- inations. Another important factor in good management is tech- nical information. The lowest partials computed in this relation — r(ran) :i=.475 and r(mn) :b=AS4 — point to the same interpre- tations as suggested by the management-intelligence correlations. Field and chore skills and management also hold their tendency to keep together regardless of eliminations. 38 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING Managerial ability, therefore, is vital to success in farm- ing and it is a quality that depends far more on native intelligence than on edu- cation or training. It and business ability probably have many common elements which in turn are conditioned by a special a type of intelligence which should be sub- Managerial ability is vital to success in farming. type of intelligence- jected to further analyses. Next to managerial ability among the causal factors of success as given on pages 19-20 stands business ability. A partial discussion of this quality has ap- peared in connection with the discussion of management. It is impossible, at least with the present data, to dissociate it from management. Each has apparently the same effect on partial correla- tions as the other, indicating, as sug- gested above, that they have common ele- ments that condition both qualities. 22 The third characteristic in the relative value of the coefficients is native intelligence — r(fi)=.732. This quality enters into other factors and must be considered largely as a cause of those other factors. The co- efficients of interest in this connection may be listed as follows: Business ability i s hard to dissociate from managerial ability, probably be- cause o f common element. r(fi)=. 732 r(fi) :e=.604 r(fi) :en=.525 r(fi) :n=. 451 r(fi) :m— 229 r(mi)=.772 r(mi) :p=.744 r(mi) :c=.684 r(mi) :e=.605 r(mi) :en=.523 r(mi) :n=.475 r(mi) :b=.428 r(if)=.732 r(im)=.772 r(ib)=.752 r(ie)=.732 r(in)=.732 r(iv)=.709 r(ik)=.606 r(ic)=.514 r(ip)=.307 22. The determination of these common elements together with their divergent elements would make an interesting and valuable study in itself but for this, new ratings are necessary. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 39 r(vi)=.709 r(vi) :e=.443 r(vi) :n=.404 r(fm)=.848 r(fk)=.677 r(fc)=.472 r(fm) :i=.649 r(fk) :i=.430 r(fc) :i=.163 f(fb)=.801 r(fn)=.700 r(fp)=.354 r(fb) :i=.555 r(fn) :i=-.3Sl r(fp) :i=.198 r(fe)=.5l4 r(fe):i=— .C47 Native intelligence correlates in order of value with the other factors as follows : (See Table III) 1. Management 5. Community value 2. Business 6. Skills 3. Education 7. Mechanical ability 4. Information 8. Physical capacity. In its relation to financial success native intelligence is affected by eliminating other qualities in order as follows : 1. Business 4. Mechanical ability 2. Information 5. Physical capacity 3. Education In its relation to community value it is more affected by the elimination of information than by the elimination of edu- cation. Again successively eliminating intelligence from the rela- tion between financial success and the remaining qualities, it is seen to affect the financial -education relationship much more vitally than e. g. the financial-management relationship. It would seem that we could draw the conclusion from the above that native intelligence as defined on page 8 is a very vital, causal factor conditioning manager- Native intelligence ial ability and business ability and techni- seems to be a vital cal information. The importance of this factor conditioning fact in working out methods of training success. and in vocational direction can scarcely be over-estimated. 40 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING The fourth causal factor is information. A study of this characteristic is evidently of direct importance in curriculum- making. The coefficients of interest in this connection follow : r(ne)=.801 r(fn) :e=.557 r(nra) :k=.626 r(nm)=.772 r(fn) :ei=.458 r(nm) :e=.604 r(ni)=.732 r(fn) :i— 351 r(nm) :ie=.516 r(nb)=.732 r(fn) :b=.278 r(nm) :i=. 475 r(nv)=.700 r(fn) :em=.167 r(nm) :b=.454 r(nf)=.700 r(fn) :m=.134 r(nk)=.587 r(fm)=.848 r(fi)=.732 r(fm) :n=.675 r(fi) :n=.451 r(fb)=.801 r(fe)=.514 r(fb) :n=.592 r(fe) :n=— .110 r(mf)=.848 r(mk)=.700 r(mf) :n=.675 r(rak) :n=.480 r(mb)=.801 r(mi)=.772 r(mb) :n=.541 r(mi) :n=.475 When information is used as a criterion the relationships with the other qualities remain very positive. When the various qualities are successively eliminated from the financial success- information relation that relation does not hold its own — man- agerial ability and business capacity causing the largest results in reducing the value of the correlations. Intelligence also enters strongly into the combination while education appears as of little direct value. Again when various qualities are successively eliminated from the information-managerial relation there is a fairly uni- form reduction extending in the case of the elimination of busi- ness of .318 points to .146 in the case of elimination of skills. 23 Further, taking information successively out of the finance and the management relationships with other qualities, it is seen 23. [r(mn)=.772— r(mn) :b=.454]=.318 [r(mn)=.772— r(ran) :k=.626]=.146 RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 41 to affect most directly finance-education and management-intel- ligence relationships having somewhat less effect on the finance- management relationship. From the above data we may conclude that technical in- formation as defined on page 8 has an important place in good farming.. Nevertheless there are latent Technical informa- suggestions that the community average t i o n undoubtedly of information is not greatly ex- h a s a n important ceeded by the better farmers of the group, function in good For example consider the correlation : farming. r(fn) :m=.134 and r(fm) :n=.675, which forces us back again to the managerial cause as being fundamentally vital. The suggestion may be dropped at this time that the determination of the minimal, func- tioning knowledge may probably contribute to the future of secondary agricultural education much more than is now real- ized. The fifth characteristic in the scale as indicated on page 22 is field and chore skills. The following lists of correla- tions will help to an understanding of the importance of this quality. r(fk)=.677 r(mk)=.700 r(km)=.700 r(fk) :p=.618 r(mk) :p=.648 r(kf)=.677 r(fk) :c=.548 r(mk) :c=.556 r(kc)=.654 r(fk) :cp=.515 r(mk) :n— 480 r(kb)— 654 r(fk) :i=.430 r(mk) :i=.458 r(ki)=. 606 r(fk) :m— 221 r(mk) :ic=.414 r(kn)=. 587 r(fk) :im=.197 r(kp)=.567 r(kv)=.514 r(ke)=.414 r(fm)=.848 r(fp)=.354 r(fc)=.472 r(fm) :k=.714 r(fp) :k=— .05 r(fc) :k— 052 The elimination of management from the financial suc- cess-skill relationship leaves a very low correlation. Intelligence likewise affects the combination materially and the elimination of both management and intelligence still further reduces the value. 4 2 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING Mechanical ability seems to contribute to the relationship but physical capacity adds very little indeed. Successively eliminating physical capacity, mechanical ability, information and intelligence from the management-skill relationship gradually decreases the correlation from r(mk)=.700 to r(mk) :i=.458. Again skills, it may be concluded, depend largely upon native intelligence. Using skills as a criterion, management ranks highest and education lowest but the spread covers only .286 points. Taking skills out of certain relationships affects the finance-mechanical correlation decidedly more than the finance- management correlation. This suggests again the discussion above on pages 25 & 26. Field and Chore skills contribute directly and decidedly to success in farming. These skills are very largely dependent upon native intelligence — a fact which again suggests a deeper study into the type of intelligence for it may be Field and chore found that a specialized intelligence is the skills contribute di- background necessity in farm success. If rectly toward sue- so, the next step would be clear — a step cess. involving determinations of the type of intelligence in question, followed by tests to ascertain its absence or presence in the individual. The relation of education, as incidentally developed in the preceding section, to either success or to the main requisite of success — managerial ability — was decidedly disconcerting. One might be tempted to conclude from the data studied that any defi- nite amount of general schooling beyond what may be termed as the community average (one-room, rural school type) tends to be a disadvantage. Without attempting at this point to make a case either for or against general education, let us study some of the correla- tions without reference to the finance or management criteria. The following bear directly upon the educational question : r(ei)=732 r(ei) :n=.356 r(en)=.801 r(en) :i=.567 r(in)=732 r(in) :e=.356 RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 43 In these qualities the inter-relations are all comparatively high. The elimination of possible confusing factors seems to in- dicate that general education is of greater value when not directly functioning toward financial success. The partial correlations, r(en) :i=.567 and r(ei) :n=.356, suggest that those of highest native (farm type) intelligence may not be most directly attract- ed to education. 24 Again let us study briefly the data bearing upon the re- lation of education, information and intelligence to business ability. r(ie)=732 r(nb)=732 r(ib) :n=.463 r(in)=.732 r(ie) :b=.527 r(eb) :i=.124 r(en)=.8Ql r(in) :b=.403 r(nb) :i=.403 r(ib)=.752 r(en) :b=.659 r(nb) :e=.520 r(eb)— 606 r(ib) :e=:.568 r(eb) :n— 049 Information and native intelligence again lead education in spite of the fact that intelligence bears the same relation both to information and to education. The General education business element seems also to affect the as usually under- intellig'ence-education more than the intel- stood in rural com- ligence-information relation. The intelli- munities may not gence-business relation is more seriously have any special at- affected by eliminating information than t r a c t i o n f or the by eliminating education — r(ib) :n=.463 type of intelligence r(ib) :e=.568. Again, eliminating the in- that seems to con- telligence factor from the education-busi- dition success. ness relation nearly nullifies that correla- tion, while the same elimination reduces the information-business relation from .801 to .403. Information is important in buying and selling, etc., but it is information strongly backed or conditioned by native intelligence. Finally let us use the broader criterion of community value in the consideration of these mental values : 24. The possibility of various types of intelligence should be kept in mind. 44 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING r(vi)=.709 r(ve) :i=.281 r(ve)=.654 r(vn) :e=.386 r(vn)=.700 r(ve) :n=.217 r(vi) :e=.443 r(vn) :i=.376 General education again fails to take precedence. Intelli- gence and information factors distinguish the man of largest place in the life of the community as well as the man foremost in financial success. Educational Implications. This study is based primarily upon the assumption that ob- jective analyses of an industry help to give the best basis for de- vising training plans for the workers in Objective analyses that industry. Moreover it attempts to of industries may get back of the mere facts and skills used be used as bases of in working processes and discover, if pos- curricula. sible, the qualities, characteristics, etc., that function most directly and satisfac- torily. It is believed that the discovery and statement of these will lay the proper foundation upon which to build curricula and training plans. General farming and the agricultural specialties offer fer- tile fields for such objective studies. Conditions and fundamen- tal principles of procedure in these occupations are compara- tively stable. The basic skills have been a long time in develop- ing. They are complex, not to be acquired in a day, and there- fore do not tend to change except with far-reaching and gradual social changes. These skills, together with their allied knowl- edges, usually pass from father to son because of the farm-home- job nature of the occupation and this transmission takes years to effect. Because of this very conservative nature of the industry, the characteristics of the men in it have become more settled and more evident. When once discovered they will stay discovered and delimited, whereas in many other lines the study of today, although giving valuable results for present conditions, may only have permanent value in giving a method of analysis for succeed- ing phases in the development of the industry. The very di- versity, complexity, and stability of the occupation requiring for RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 45 the general farmer abilities as a worker, as a business man, and as a manager challenge the educationalist. They challenge him to analyze the man, not only to lay bases for training plans and principles, but to make sure that the training when properly de- vised will not be wasted upon boys who may never be able to function successfully in such a complex field. If conclusions from this study may be accepted, the gen- eral farmer, to be successful, should have qualities somewhat as follows : The qualities, char- 1. He should have slightly more, acteristics, etc., of at least, than the average physical ability the successful gen- of the community. His strength and en- eral farmer may be durance need not be extraordinary, but he listed. cannot be a weakling. 2. He has a certain advantage if endowed with some generalized mechanical ability, but if too highly developed and specialized, it probably works against, rather than with, certain other necessary qualities. 3. He must be possessed of some considerable amount of technical information — working facts available for quick and easy application. 4. He needs to have a fund of rather definite, specialized farm skills, like pitching hay and bundles to advantage, shoulder- ing sacks of grain with ease and harnessing and handling two, four or six-horse teams quickly and effectively. 5. He is coming to be a business man able to meet neigh- bors and townsmen in transactions that do not leave him behind in the game. In connection with or supplementary to this buy- ing and selling characteristic, he needs certain abilities in keep- ing records and accounts, giving him a basis for determining costs, profits, etc. 6. Fundamentally he must be a manager. Herein he approximates the industrial manager more than the industrial worker, differing chiefly, perhaps, in the fact that he deals rela- tively more with things and less with men. 4 6 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING 7. Finally, so far as this study has data to determine, he must have a high degree of native intelligence — an intelligence probably more or less specialized, directly conditioning his skills, his ability to "pick up" technical information and his man- agerial power. 25 The range covered illustrates the possibilities of the meth- od of the study and it gives a real basis for certain conclusions of value in the field of secondary agricultural instruction. Of the seven statements given above every one seems to be dependent upon characteristics or qualities that must be in the original make-up of the man. Physical The original make- endurance may sometimes develop out of up of the man seemingly poor beginnings, but on the needs consideration average, at least, successful farmers must in secondary agri- be able to do average days' farm work cultural education. which most certainly require some con- siderable fund of vitality. Facts may be acquired, learned, but farm facts have to be working information, often available on a moment's notice and adaptable to many vary- ing conditions of wind, weather, soil and society. Undoubtedly a high type of intelligence, more or less specialized and not to be gratuitously developed in all who come, is basic in acquiring and using these working facts or knowledges. Field and chore skills are learned. Nevertheless some men never acquire them though they remain on farms all their lives. Others seem not to need even to learn them ; they come so nat- urally. This is due to original, inherent differences in the, indi- 25. Doubtless other qualities of great value, or further breakup of the ones listed, could be determined, but the ones chosen are major and cover as wide a range as it was thought possible to include within the limitations of this study. The ratings together with the explanations covered an entire class period in every institution visited. It would have been inadvis- able to try to get further material at this time and in this man- ner. Seminar groups and master degree students can well con- sider further studies looking to a wider range or a greater break- up of characteristics. The writer will be glad to make sugges- tions for such studies. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 47 viduals. Since such differences are continuous and are found in all stages, some people with lesser native capacities may acquire, under adequate tuition, considerable facility in these lines. It is probable that, on the whole, the highly skilled father will be the best trainer of his boy, especially if that boy inherits to a greater or less degree his father's native capacities, but all boys are not thus fortunate. Skills can be induced often under very untoward conditions. Here the schools must enter and supplement or sup- plant the inadequacies of the home unit — an interesting and most valuable field for further investigation. 26 Again good business principles can be taught, and buying and selling, accounting, can be improved in nearly all grades and types of intelligence. Undoubtedly this characteristic has more elements in common with business ability in other industries than the remaining characteristics listed. It is, moreover, prob- able that the average farmer needs a higher type of business acumen (covering cost finding in addition to buying, selling, etc.) than does the average worker in any other industry and possibly more than many so-called average business men. Of all the characteristics, it is profitable to repeat, man- agerial ability stands first. It is less affected by confusing ele- ments and therefore tends to be definite. It is directly condi- tioned by intelligence and therefore it may be classed as strongly inherent. It can b ; e improved, trained, but only to advantage when the person in training has the requisite mental type and power to benefit from the peculiar training needed. Is nature all important in the above characteristics? Is it the thing first to be considered? It is very important and will continue to be an increasingly important factor, more and more to be considered as farming develops in complexity and as com- petition in production grows. Nature will take a larger and larger part of the consideration unless big scale production be- 26. This study can not go into the field of individual case study, working out from the experience and knowledge already possessed by the boy. It is, however, a field of vital value and interest. 4 8 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING comes the order accompanied by the decline of the quarter-sec- tion farm type. 27 Nature is of fundamental importance in the farming occupation. In this fact there may be some basis for the age-long prejudice of the farmer against "book-farming" or the advice of outsiders, be they college experts, agricultural teachers, board of trade members, bankers, or what not. If so, the recog- nition of the fact and the re-directing of our plans in accordance with right principles may do more to further proper agricultural education than is now supposed. 28 Nature will be of supreme importance in the future properly diversi- When competition fied, privately or co-operatively owned, becomes intense in intensive farm unit. Moreover, nothing agriculture, " n a- will do more to promote such an ideal ture" will be of su- state than an agricultural education preme importance. which adequately trains selected groups for types of work for which nature has best fitted them. But this is vocational guidance ! Agricultural leaders will be the last to consent to any Prussian system of de- termination which assigns a child to a particular line of life work. And rightly so, for vocational guidance of this kind should be smothered in its beginnings. Vocational direction and advice are very different things from vocational determination as it would be conceived by an industrial or political autocrat. They are best illustrated by re- cent studies in educational guidance. Such studies are trying to discover the aptitudes of the pupils chiefly for the pupils' sakes. Incidentally they will lay the best possible basis for the studies of the industries in the interests of both the pupils and the indus- tries. Ultimately it will be the finding by and the fitting of the child for his best place in society. Vocational direction would 27. Big scale production means highly trained directors controlling groups of laborers and making use of specialists. Many people, however, are not ready to concede that this type of rural organization is either advisable or generally probable. 28. Agricultural education is far from being generally ac- cepted amongst farmers today. That it is not is only too evi- dent to those who have daily to deal with the man on the job. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 49 substitute for the present wasteful and chaotic trial and error method, scientific advice and suggestion based upon such evi- dence of the child's native capacity as Vocational d i r e c- might be obtained through carefully kept tion must be both school records, objective ratings by suc- scientific and hu- cessive teachers, scientifically devised man. tests, desires of parent and child, etc. Vo- cational direction, in a word, must be both scientific and human. To be scientific it must be objective, to be human it must focus on the child rather than on the industry. In being both scientific and human, we have faith also that it will be really and fundamentally social. This matter of vocational direction is a field in itself — a field of tremendous importance as well as of interest. Its further study is urged especially in agricultural and rural education. The need is great in this field because many people (even born and living to maturity in the country) will never make good farmers and should have been directed or advised toward vil- lage or city industries or professions where both their compe- tence and happiness might have been fully assured. Secondly, the need is great because the social and economic organization in the country lacks variety and opportunities for contact or ex- perience. 29 The city boy has a wonderful chance for trial and error, wasteful as that method may be. The country boy on the contrary is significantly limited when it comes to trying out or even observing other than one or two kinds of farming and a few closely allied types of work. And, finally, the need is great agri- culturally, because some means should be found to select out and provide possible trial opportunities for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of city youths who may have every requisite for suc- cess in farming, including mental and physical abilities, adequate capital, and the proper personal desire or interest. But vocational direction, important as it may become, is only one part of the great problem. Given the boy with the proper desires and characteristics, how shall he be trained to 29. Rural Education (The Objectives and Needs of Rural Elementary Education). W. C. Brim. Macmillan Company. 50 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING make a greater success of what he would tend to succeed in re- gardless of formal school or vocational training? The Training of the Boy. Any possible deductions from the present study, of course, will be limited to the field of general farming as investigated. 30 Repeated emphasis has been given to the importance of the man- agerial aspect of farm success. In discussing this question from the training viewpoint the writer wishes to urge that a new approach may be advisable — a possible approach to the secondary agricultural education question in general farming through the avenue of management. Management involves con- trol — control, in this case, of such factors The best training as crops and cropping, hand, team and approach may be power labor, invested and operating capi- through manage- tal — control that intensifies here, extends ment. elsewhere, applies cost methods when needed — control in changing plans to meet emergencies in weather, markets, or what not. Manage- ment requires objectivity — an outside viewpoint. The engineer is outside the machine. He comes to it and goes from it. He gets away from it at night, for the week end, or possibly for the season. 31 So far agricultural teaching has tended to lose sight of the inclusive nature of managerial success. Courses in soils, in crops, in breeds and breeding, have emphasized the break-up and 30. It is hoped that, since the field is opened up, future studies will not only consider specialties like poultry raising, fruit growing, etc., but will subject general farming to much more detailed analyses. The conclusions drawn seem to be sup- ported by the evidence at hand for general farming (dairying and allied crops) in New York State as well as general farming (corn, wheat, stock, etc.) in Ohio or Kansas. 31. It is suggested that the very nature of the present or- ganization of the farm tends to prevent this viewpoint. The farmer is born, brought up, eats, sleeps, has his whole life-long being within his job — sometimes under it, if the mortgage is heavy. Under such circumstances, only the exceptional man can get the inclusive, objective viewpoint of his farm as a machine and a job. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 51 promoted specialized interests long before the inclusive view is attempted. 32 Perhaps a reference and an illustration will help to enforce the viewpoint of this discussion. "Professor Mann would com- bine theory with practice much more intimately than occurs in the law schools of the present day by requiring the student to learn to operate the 'case' under study. The student must not merely observe and analyze the operation of the dynamo : he must actually run it and repair it when out of order." 33 Add to this reference the following illustration : A boy happens to come upon a man (perhaps a teacher) who is observing a small gaso- line engine, evidently his own and with which he is very familiar. The boy's interest causes the man to start the engine and operate it for a few minutes. Later he and the boy (or the boy and he) start it, operate it, take it apart, discover its secrets and prin- ciples of construction and working, assemble it, start it again, re- pair it when necessary, etc., until the boy knows that little engine from a to z. In this "case" there is, first, the whole, the inclu- sive, the objective view of a machine. Secondly, there is the in- vestigation into its make-up and into the "how" and "why" of its working. Thirdly, there is the re-assembling and the re-operat- ing of the whole machine. There is understanding and control of an outside, objective whole. The parts are known but entirely in their relation to the whole machine and its functioning. The farm home and the farm machine have been confused. Man- 32. College courses in farm management naturally and rightly are given after the technical courses are well under way or completed. The writer does not wish to get into a contro- versy on the subject of the collegiate curriculum, much as it needs attention. He does, however, object strenuously to the policy of secondary schools following the same plan of courses in training boys for farming. He is wondering if courses in "managing a farm" may not be devised, using as a basis this principle of objectivity. 33. Preface to "A Study of Engineering Education" by Charles R. Mann, Bulletin No. 11, Carneigie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching." 52 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING agerial control can best be asserted when the operator gets out- side or on top of his working plant instead of being hopelessly mixed up within or under the works. If the writer is not mistaken, this objective study and control is the essence of good management and, if so, may it not be applied to the farm working unit and to the teach- Objective control ing of the operation of that unit? This seems to be the es- viewpoint, however, is so largely based sence of good man- upon opinion and this study is attempting agement. to break away from subjective prejudice, that the idea will not be urged but will be left to propagate itself if it have the necessary worth and vitality. An essential tool of the farm manager is the fund of tech- nical information that he has at hand for ready use. And it is the teaching of this that tends to get us back onto tried and sure ground. We feel more certain when it comes to getting ideas or facts across to the boy. Because of this Technical informa- we are prone to make the class room im- tion is an important partation of the facts the whole point of tool of good man- our training. The writer feels, however, agement. that he must urge the necessity of train- ing the boy managerially. The facts or information are to be considered only as factors of the larger problem — tools of the job — of value only as they function in the control of the outside, objective machine that is working to pro- duce crops, stock, etc. 34 If we are to consider the agricultural information as a tool — a supplement to the larger managerial power — the problem of finding the facts that really function and organizing them into 34. Two kinds of facts or information should be distin- guished — those common, daily used facts possessed by the bet- ter farmers and those special informations more often possessed by the expert to be given out as advice in difficult or danger- ous situations. It may be more important in training the future farmer to develop in him a respect for the expert and an ability to find the expert rather than the quack, than to train him in the expertness that he will use too seldom to keep him in prac- tice. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 53 proper teaching units becomes the important thing. As was sug- gested in the first part of this report, the study of this phase was temporarily abandoned for the determination of the essential characteristics of the successful farmer. The proof of the impor- tance of technical information in farming justifies a return to its consideration and to further pursuit of its study. It is here that the principle of minimal essentials becomes so helpful. The pres- ent plan includes the following procedure: The usually taught facts and principles in a limited field are listed in the form of simple, concrete statements. Duplica- tions are eliminated and the list reduced to as low proportions as possible, yet suggesting all of the material. This material is fin- ally printed in such form as to permit the rating of each item. It is evident that each item may be useful or not useful in pro- moting production. Five grades of value may be assigned and a figure 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 placed after each item to indicate the value as considered by the person making the rating. Number 1 would indicate that the item was essential and could not be dispensed with without serious loss in production. Number 5 would indi- cate that the item was never used and could or should be dis- pensed with. Other numbers, 2, 3, or 4, would indicate inter- mediate or relative values. Such report blanks will be sent to large numbers of men in actual farming who are familiar with the technical terms necessarily employed. The idea is to get an objective concensus of actual use of the facts in their relation to production. The central tendencies for each item will reveal their values and at the same time show in skeleton outline the general principles around which they will best be organized. 35 35. As a beginning in this method of determination of mini- mal essentials, mailing lists from several states are being ob- tained and the analysis of market milk dairying has been begun. 54 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING Such bodies of minimal essential, working, organized facts will be of untold service to the teacher-trainer, the teacher, the the supervisor and the student himself. As Minimal essential it is, the field is so large and the interest determinatitons are element on the part of the teacher, to- of great value in gether with the tendency to follow beaten secondary agricul- paths and lines of least resistance, is so tural education. great that often the materials used and methods chosen fail to function toward clearly defined objective results. Moreover, many minds do not have the faculty for going to the heart of a subject and discard- ing the more or less useless, or for organizing elements according to their relative values. As a time saver what would serve more directly and effectively? 36 As a standard of accomplishment, what would give a better measure? As a working tool in the hands of the man responsible for production on the farm, what would be more effective? For some time manual training of the indiscriminate type has been subjected to severe criticism. The results of this study certainly add force to that criticism. The Minimal essential application of the principles of objective studies are also determination and minimal essentials necessary in the seem to offer a way of finding out just mechanical aspects what should be taught in the mechanical of the work. as opposed to the farm skills' phase. Unit courses in gas engines, as indicated in the illustration given, in overhauling farm machinery, and in the se- lection and care of the few mechanics' tools that should be a part of the equipment of every farmer are evidently valuable and in- teresting types of work that may be carried on without special laboratory facilities. 36. When it is remembered that many boys have only one or two winters of a few months each to devote full time to school attendance and further when it is remembered that even the four-year high school can legitimately devote one-half or less of the time to vocational training, the time element becomes of special importance. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 55 The field and chore skills section of the boy's training- as a future farmer is so important as to require special emphasis. The tendency is to assume that he has and is Field and chore obtaining such training on the home farm skills have never and since no one knows how to go about been listed and planning and organizing courses to teach studied. these skills the work is ignored. Tech- nical information and field and chore skills are the two most effective tools of the good farm manager. So far as the writer knows no one has ever attempted to study or list farm skills. An inventory of these would be a good introduc- tion to such a study. Carefully prepared descriptions of the best practice could follow. 37 Since the boy is constantly engaged in skill use and practice at home, it may be that the teacher or the school can function most directly from the description and criti- cism standpoints. The farm boy probably comes to his agricul- tural training with more field and chore skills well developed than with any other phase of his training start. Special abilities should be recognized ; deficiencies should be checked up. A further field for graduate student investigational work lies in the business aspects of the boy's training. The farm man- agement people have done most excellent Success in modern service in devising record, accounting and agricultural pro- cost finding schemes. Possible unit duction is demand- courses should be worked out from such ing more and more data. In connection with this, principles business ability. of buying and selling should be drawn on as developed in the merchandizing courses and purchasing agent work. 37. Here again is an excellent opportunity for graduate study and the possibilities of a scientific measuring scale of skill ability are very great. 56 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING It is hoped that enough has been said to enforce the view- point of this study, namely; the necessity for objective analyses of the men and the job as bases for curri- The work outlined culum-making and teacher-training. The demands analyses of field is really four-fold and covers not the man, the job, the only the necessity for men-and job- field and the boy. analyses but also field-and boy-an- alyses. The field-analyses involve the standardization of methods for local study so that the teaching will function directly toward the type of agriculture of the community. The boy-analyses are the natural complements of the man-analyses, laying the basis for real vocational direction and advisement as well as proper methods of training. Objective studies provide a sensible and scientific method of getting away from the tryanny of opinion and tradition and this study will be of value, not because of the number of principles it may de- velop but because of the field it opens up and the future studies to which it may lead. Considerations. 1. The basis for curriculum-making and procedure in it should grow out of objective studies of the job and of the people functioning in that job. 2. There seems to be a more or less specialized type of farm intelligence which needs delimitation and study as a basis for vocational direction and vocational training plans. 3. Training for a job, especially such a complex one as general farming needs an objectification of that job which pre- supposes both an inclusive and an outside view. 4. Training in the details of a job should consider those details or factors constantly from the standpoint of their inter- relations and their sub-relations to the job itself. 5. Vocational education is not necessarily bound up hand and foot in general education — indeed this study would seem to indicate a clear severance of the two. General education does not appear to function directly toward vocational efficiency. This may mean that the ideals of education as actually carried out tend to attract a type of intelligence that is not best suited to agricultural productivity. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 57 6. In view of the fact that society demands more of it» members than vocational competence to insure its progressive development, general education in some form or other is neces- sary. A general education, therefore, that is not unattractive to the specialized intelligence needed in agricultural work would seem to be the requirement. Such an education, in the opinion of the writer, should do at least two things : (a) Give a sufficient basis in English, Mathematics, Gen- eral Science and Social Science to prepare the student to under- stand the later vocational training and work. (b) Prepare for adequate citizenship and social function- ing. 7. In order to obtain time for this needed general educa- tion, two things are necessary : (a) Longer period in school. (b) Higher efficiency in the vocational training field. Note : Such training or education must not be either ultra- cultral or ultra-practical. The needs of both the abstract or lit- erary type of intelligence and the work-a-day, managerial, con- crete type must be recognized. 8. General education and vocational education for the present, at least, should progress more or less separately, each studying its respective field objectively, determining its function- ing essentials, but co-operating at every turn. Each must realize its dependence upon the other ; neither can go far alone. 9. The following topics are suggested for seminar and graduate study: (a) Fundamental characteristics of both the man and the job in various lines of agricultural production. (b) Minimal essentials in all of the fields or specialties. (c) Tests to determine innate characteristics for rural boys. (d) Pre-requisite, foundational, explorative work for junior high school courses. 58 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING (e) Study of the business essentials in general farming. (f) Managerial rating sheets or score cards. (g) Scales for measuring skills, managerial ability, etc. (h) Use of case, unit, project, problem and other meth- ods in various aspects of the instruction work. (i) Standard record cards for grades and junior high schools for vocational direction data. The Reliability of the Data. So far it has been assumed that the ratings as given on the various Form B's (the original data of the study) were al- ways correct. As a matter of fact, how- The method of rank- ever, it is probable that there are many ing individuals for misplacements of men in the groups. If it certain qualities or had been possible to obtain four, five or characteristics may six separate student ratings on each be open to question group it is probable that there would have as to its reliability. been differences more or less marked. Moreover, the ability of students to act as judges may be questioned. It may be very legitimately con- tended that the only way to tell how thirteen farmers should be arranged in order of financial success from best to poorest would be on the basis of information obtainable by the usual farm man- agement survey methods. Even this could be criticised and is being criticised, especially if the criterion used be the labor in- come criterion, which has been the basis for most surveys so far undertaken. But, granting the validity of the labor income criterion, what would be the possibility of its use in such a study as this? At first plans were made to tie up the determination of the char- acteristics and qualities desired to the groups of farmers in vari- ous states who had been subjected to labor income surveys by the usual farm management methods. With random selections from such lists it was hoped to have several different judges (county agent, banker, high school agriculturist and others) rank the same group and from these data obtain the desired correlations. But this was found to be an almost impossible RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 59 task. Moreover, the number of groups to be rated would be so limited that local variations would be a serious factor, making it inadvisable to draw generalized conclusions from the data ob- tainable. Finally, after repeated try-outs which tended to show certain constant results in spite of possible imperfections the method used in the study was decided upon and pursued in as guarded a way as possible. In general, ratings by these men may be defended from the following standpoints : To begin with each man stated that the farmers in his group were well known Students from farm to him. In fact, in the great majority of communities are pe- the cases they were men of his home com- culiarly f i 1 1 e d to munity onto whose farms and into whose provide the desired homes he had repeatedly gone. Only a ratings. person who has grown up in such an en- vironment can realize how fully these qualities and characteristics are known and discussed by all of the members of the community. It is this very intimate com- mon knowledge of the financial and other affairs of the neigh- borhood that is used as a basis for loans in some of the co-op- erative enterprises that have grown up. "Change of work", for example, has brought families into close contact with each oth- er's skills, physical capacities, personalities, etc. Moreover, the students making the rankings are as a class a selected group of the finest young men, endowed with keen observation and judg- ing powers. Of this, the writer was often reminded in the brief discussions that followed the exercise. Very few of the men seriously questioned their ability to place the upper and lower two-thirds of the groups. Sometimes they were less sure about the order of those who were finally numbered 6, 7 or 8. But the misplacement of these men one, two or three places would tend to effect the final value of the coefficient very little indeed as may be learned by working out various trial orders. A some- what significant reaction to the method came from the instruc- tors or professors. An attempt was made to get ratings by mail from a number of schools. To this, in general, a poor response was obtained. A few did not answer at all, others did not have the right type of students or the special opportunity and a few 60 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING answered frankly stating their skepticism of the proposed meth- od. On the other hand no institution was Many instructors found in which the ratings were taken by and professors on the writer in person where the professors understanding the and instructors in charge were not keenly problems and the interested and evidently sympathetic with method became the method and the possible value of the keenly interested. results. Many of these men voluntarily took part in the exercise, submitting their reports with those of the cless. It is probable that most of the errors are of a kind that would tend to balance each other and, therefore, have little ef- fect on the final value of the coefficients. Most of the errors There are, however, undoubtedly two were probably of a kinds of constant errors that should be kind to offset each noted. One is what may be known as the other thereby caus- "halo." 38 This in a few words is a tend- ing little effect on ency on the part of judges to ascribe the finally accepted higher values than should be in all quali- values. ties to certain men because of their gen- eral standing and success. For example a judge placing a man high in the scale for intelligence, would tend to place him high also for information or skill or managerial ability regardless of the facts in the case. Opposed to this is another error for which correction often should be made. This is known as "attenuation" 39 and in general is an error that tends to reduce the value of the coefficient. Since the error due to the "halo" and the error due to "attenuation" operate in opposite di- rections and since with the present data corrections for neither can be made to advantage, each will be assumed to equal the other and therefore to have little or no effect upon the finally accepted coefficient values. 38. See article by Dr. E. L. Thorndike — "A Constant Error in Psychological Ratings," pages 25-29. The Journal of Applied Psychology Vol. 4, No. 1. 39. Mental and Social Measurements by E. L. Thorndike, pages 177-180. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 61 A"}iunuiuio3 (a) 00 tx r-H CO O u-. l^l^OOO'0*xt^totnT}-Tt- \oootx OCM CM joqe^ 99.UJ (n) O (N t^ On 00 o P^SA'lJJ (d) O^OhOOhNO^- C\l O O to X^ijiqy ssauisng (q)j o 00 O cm 'O — O O ro lo O tN. <0 00 ts. VO Xjqiqy IBDiuBqoaj^ (d)i 00(Ni-|TfrOTt-I^-rfr\|Tt <2 S UPIS 9J oq3 pin> ppnj Oj) O >-d ■<*• '"M O On rH 00 _ vO CM rfr I\ tx Aijiqy |BU3SbuBJ\[ (ui) UOpBUIJOJUJ |Bjn;jnouSy (u) uoi;B3np3 {BJ3U9Q (a) t 00 N vO --< (\j x ^ XMvOvONK^vO — QvOQ^CVJ'-H'-H'-ifvi HOtOHfOHOHN txt^tx^f^r^t^cox^t^ cm ^f- cm rt- o cm ts ^ CO ^ O ^ 't l O'OvOKK 00 vo t-" «— i io -^f- t^ Tf OoO'— ' "-'OrN.occo^t-TfTi- ooo ssaoong IBIDUHUIJ (j) OvNrHQ\ Xfo^-o ONKK 8 CM CM i— ' CM O O ro Tf NC^N ro t^ ^h c> © O "3" *-< i-OOO txlN. KNKvDvDinin IN.CMCO t% cm cm -3- oo t-h Q '-' t^ co cm <-> r^ rt- 00 fON- ^tHO- to t^Tfu-. OOts.lN.t-^OLO^ OOroro > z r- rt - ° ^ ■*C "^ 3 c rt w 3 .a i- *o ~" r- o "T! >■> S -2 w rt Ortrt-£ h 1 t- >- o o CO 62 BASES FOR CURRICULUM MAKING - Probably the most convincing evidence that the data may- be taken as fundamentally reliable may be obtained from a study of Table VI. This is a combination table including the data of Table III as given on page 21 and a second set of data simi- larly but independently obtained from the Two separately ob- four eastern states of New York, New tainedand comput- Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland. 42 A ed sets of data show casual inspection of these figures at once a remarkable con- shows their likeness. In no case is there sistency. a wide divergence — the widest occurring in the inter-relationship between Field and Chore Skills and General Education, a difference of only .119. In the main, the procedure in obtaining these two sets of data were sufficiently alike to make it possible to compute their proable error, which roves to be only .035. 43 42. These data were obtained and worked up before the Middle Western States' data were gathered. The latter were much more carefully guarded and procedure more fully standardized so it is felt that their probably increased accuracy justified their use in the study in preference to that first ob- tained. Business ability was not included in the earlier study and a few inter-correlations were incomplete. 43. Having these two sets of da- Scale F r e " . T ?" ta obtained and computed in similar quencies tals , , . \ , , , +.100 to +.090 1 1 ways but entirely independently the +.090 to +.080 1 2 probable error may be found as fol- +.080 to +.070 2 lows: Beginning with the r(fi) rela- +.070 to +.060 1 3 t ^ on w hich has the two values .689 +.060 to +.050 3 6 an d -^2 the difference, substracting +.050 to +.040 4 10 algebraically, between the two is +.040 to +.030 3 13 found to be — .043. Continuing this the +.030 to +.020 2 15 difference for all the relations (with- +.020 to +.010 1 16 out repetitions) may be arranged in a +.010 to .000 1 17 scale as given at the left. From this it is .000 to .010 2 19 readily seen that the first and third 010 to .020 1 20 quartiles fall at +.045 and at — .045. 020 to .030 1 21 Adding these and dividing by two 030 to .040 2 23 gives the .045 which may be taken as 040 to .050 4 27 the PE of the differences. Using the Z'orn t0 Z 070 2 W formula : PE dif=\/PEa 2 +PE& 2 and _070 to —.080 1 31 substituting we have .045=\/2PE 2 be- —.080 to —.090 31 cause the PE of the eastern data (a) —.090 to —.100 2 33 may be assumed equal to the PE of —.100 to —.110 33 the western data (b). Solving this —.110 to —.120 1 34 equation PE equals .0345. RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 63 This means that the true value will stand fifty chances out of a hundred of being not more than .035 greater or less than the obtained value. It means that a coefficient of .600 would not be greater than .635 or less than .565 in fifty out of one hundred cases. However, the more nearly a coefficient approximates zero, the larger the probable error will be but even so, the prob- able error of a zero coefficient would equal only .054. So far as the present study is concerned, these values are practically neg- ligible. The writer, of course, must be considered as a prejudiced witness. Nevertheless, he would like to state in further defense of the method that a conception of its reliability has grown upon him, largely due to the fact that scarcely ever did even a second or third order partial coefficient prove inconsistent with the gen- eral results of the study. For a time it seemed impossible to accept some of the relationships indicated by the partial correlations having to do with general education, but the further those re- sults were considered in connection with The resulting coeffi- actual farm communities, the more their cients show a re- possible truth came to be recognized. It markable consist- is suggested that the age-old indifference cncy. of farming communities to much general education for themselves, beyond the com- munity level, may be a little positive evidence in this particular. Again, a third set of data was separately obtained and so far as it has been worked up it fully The rating of 2,000,- substantiates the data used and in sev- 000 men would in- eral cases actually proves identical. This crease the reliability leads to the belief that the central ten- but would probably dencies accepted for the 2,000 middle not greatly change western farmers and also found practically the actually accept- the same for the eastern groups and still ed values. further backed up by the third or final set, so far as computed, would be the most probable central tendencies were two million men rated instead of the four or five thousand that were actually considered. VITA EDGAR CREIGHTON HIGBIE was born in Green Lake County, Wisconsin, July 31, 1875. He received his early education in the public schools of Minnesota and in Ripon College Academy, Ripon, Wisconsin. He was a student at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, in 1901 and 1902 and received degrees of Bachelor of Arts in Edu- cation and Master of Arts, respectively in 1907 and 1909 from the University of Minnesota. He taught rural and graded schools in Wisconsin and Minnesota for four years and was city superintendent of high school systems for five years, after which he was superintendent of the West Central School and Station of the University of Min- nesota for seven years. From this last position he resigned in 1917 to pursue further study for the Doctors Degree at the Uni- versity of Chicago ond Columbia University. He is a member of Minnesota Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa. . H163 78 57Q \ V «i» V *' V* % ck °o.. *^r.- A

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