& o * **$ A 19/4- Author Title Imprint lft— 47372-2 6PO 'epartm^iit of Public Instruction EDUCATIONAL PUBLICATIONS Bulletin No. 7 Vocational Series No. Regulations Governing Vocational Agricultural Schools and Departments in Indiana INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA April, 1914 Department of Public Instruction EDUCATIONAL PUBLICATIONS Bulletin No. 7 Vocational Series No. 5 Regulations Governing Vocational Agricultural Schools and Departments in Indiana INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA April, 1914 APPROVED BY THE STATE BOARD OP EDUCATION (t) o -4 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION VOCATIONAL DIVISION Charles A. Greathouse Superintendent of Public Instruction William Frederick Book Deputy Superintendent in Charge Vocational Education Z. M. Smith Supervisor of Agricultural Education (3) CONTENTS. Introduction Page • Vocational Agricultural Schools and Departments 9 1. The Need 9 2. The Enrollment 9 3. The Location 10 4. Laboratory Equipment 10 5. The Teacher 10 6. Courses of Study 11 7. Part-time Classes 12 8. Evening Classes 13 9. Home Work 13 10. Demonstration Plots 14 1 1 . Advisory Committee 14 12. Approval of Work 14 13. Communications to the State Board 15 14. Home Economics 15 (5) INTRODUCTORY. The purpose of this bulletin is to give information relative to establishing vocational agricultural schools and departments in accordance with the provisions of the Vocational Education Law which was passed by the Indiana State Legislature in 1913. Section 13 of the Vocational Education Law reads as follows: ' ' Vocational schools or departments for industrial, agricultural and domestic science education shall so long as they are approved by the state board of education as to organization, location, equipment, courses of study, qualification of teachers, methods of instruction, conditions of admission, employment of pupils and expenditures of money, constitute approved vocational schools or departments. School cities, and towns and townships maintaining such approved vocational schools shall receive reimbursement as provided in this act." The amount of the reimbursement shall be " equal to two- thirds of the sum expended for instruction in vocational and tech- nical subjects authorized and approved by the State Board of Education." The first draft of the manuscript for this bulletin was sub- mitted to President W. E. Stone, and Superintendent G-. I. Christie of Purdue University. At their suggestion, one or two changes were made. After a committee of the state board of education had approved the subject matter, it was discussed at a regular meeting of the board. The subject matter in its present form was adopted by the state board on Thursday, March 26, 1914. Z. M. Smith, Supervisor of Agricultural Education. (7) VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS AND DEPARTMENTS. 1. The Need: Should a board of school trustees or school com- missioners, or a township trustee, desire to establish a vocational agricultural school or department, the first step should be to ascer- tain the sentiment of the community relative to the need of such a school or department. Unless a lively interest in the movement is manifested by the people of the community that would be served by the school or department, and unless there is manifestly a need for the type of instruction that would be given, it would not be advisable to proceed with the work of organization. Evidence of proper community interest must be furnished to the state board of education. 2. The Enrollment: If there is sufficient interest to warrant the establishing of the school or department, the names of those who would enroll the first term should be secured. The probable membership for the first three years should be ascertained as nearly as possible. Attendance upon either day or part time classes in the schools or departments under consideration is restricted by law to persons over 14 and under 25 years of age. Only persons over 17 years of age may be admitted to the evening classes. In addition to meet- ing the age requirements each pupil must have a certificate of graduation from the eighth grade, or give other satisfactory evi- dence of ability to profit by the instruction. The enrollment must be such as to insure an average daily attendance, in each day, part time, or evening class organized, of not less than fifteen nor more than twenty-five pupils for each teacher employed to give his or her whole time to the school or department. Pupils enrolled in the vocational agricultural school or department must devote their whole time to the work of tihe school or department. None but those regularly enrolled in the school or department can be admitted to either day, part time, or evening classes. Clause 6, Section 1 of the Vocational Education Law, reads as follows: "Approved industrial, agricultural or domestic science school or department shall mean an organization under a separate director or head, of courses, pupils and teachers approved by the state board of education designed to give either industrial, agricul- tural or domestic science education as herein defined. ' ' (0) 10 Vocational Education* in Indiana. 3. The Location: The location of the school or department should meet with the hearty approval of the people in the com- munity which is to be served. The state board of education should approve of the location before final action on the matter is taken. The building must meet all the requirements of the state board of health. If the work is established as a department, the room or rooms devoted to the work must not be used by pupils in other classes in such a way as to interfere with the vocational work. It is advisable that day classes be given exclusive use of the rooms set apart for vocational work. 4. Laboratory Equipment: The school or department must be equipped with apparatus sufficient for thorough work of secondary grade in soils, crops, animal husbandry, dairying, poultry, horti- culture, carpentry and blacksmithing, or for such of these lines of work as are to be taken up. A list of the apparatus to be used in the vocational school or department must be submitted to the state board of education for approval in advance of its purchase and installment. Duplication of apparatus for use in the vocational department and in the regu- lar academic work should be avoided to as great an extent as possible. 5. The Teacher: If the conditions as to community interest, enrollment, location and equipment can be fully met, the state supervisor of agricultural education should be consulted and steps taken toward securing the teacher or teachers. The teacher of the agricultural subjects must be a graduate of a commissioned high school or its equivalent and must have com- pleted a regular four years course in a standard agricultural col- lege, or must submit to the state board of education proof of an equivalent technical training in agriculture. He must have had successful experience as a teacher, and must have had farm experi- ence sufficient to familiarize him with practical farm methods. He must be employed for a term of twelve months because a very im- portant part of his work will be done during the summer. He must devote all of his time to the vocational school or department. Be- fore he is employed, he must have been licensed by the state board of education to teach in a vocational agricultural school or depart- ment. Teachers of the related academic subjects must meet the standard qualifications required by law for teachers of high school subjects. Teachers of these subjects need not necessarily devote Agricultural Schools and Departments. 11 all of their time to the vocational work, but their training and experience must have been such as to insure their complete sym- pathy with the practical application of their subjects to the voca- tional work. 6. Courses of Study: After the teacher of the agricultural subjects has been selected he, together with his superintendent and board of school commissioners, shall prepare in detail an outline of the courses of study which are to be offered in the school or depart- ment. These courses of study together with a list of the proposed laboratory equipment and a complete list of the books in the school library must be submitted to the state board of education, at least thirty days before the beginning of the school term, for approval in advance. Approval in advance will not guarantee state aid. Such approval merely authorizes the school officials to undertake the work on a vocational basis with the understanding that state aid will be granted if the work be done in a manner satisfactory to the state board. The courses must be separate and distinct from the pre-vocational work required by law in the elementary and high school grades. If the. school authorities decide upon a four years course the following is recommended and should be adhered to in general : Course of Study.* First Year. English 4 R Horticulture 3R-2L Soils and Fertilizers 3 R-2 L Mechanical Drawing and Wood "Working. . 2 L Mathematics 3 R Home Project Work Second Year. English 3 R Civics 3 R Mathematics 2 R Dairying 3 R-2 L Farm Crops (not limited to Botany) 3 R-2 L Mechanical Drawing and Wood Working. . 2 L Home Project Work *Class recitations shall be not less than forty minutes and laboratory periods not less than eighty minutes each. Numerals denote number of periods per week. R— Recitations. L — Laboratory. 12 Vocational Education in Indiana. Third Year. English 3 R U. S. History 3 R Farm Accounting' 3 R Physics (not academic) 3R-2L Animal Husbandry 3 R - 2 L Carpentry 2 L Home Project "Work Fourth Year. Farm Management (including marketing) 5 R Poultry 2 R - 2 L General History (elective). Farm Mechanics and Engineering 2R-1L Chemistry (not academic) 3 R - 2 L Forging and Blaeksmithing 1R-2L Home Project Work It is not necessary that a four-year course be offered. The work should be organized in the way that will best serve the needs of the community. Courses may cover either four, three or two years, or even one year. In some communities there may be needed half year, twelve or eight weeks unit courses. Short unit courses must necessarily deal with a vocational subject included in the course suggested for four years work. Certificates of graduation shall not be issued, but a certified statement of the kind and amount of work completed shall be given to each student upon his withdrawal from the school. The work in the related academic subjects must be given a dis- tinctly practical bearing on the agricultural subjects. English and mathematics easily lend themselves to this practical treatment. History (not history of agriculture) should be emphasized on the industrial side, as it relates to agriculture, and civics should deal with the practical phases of local, state, and national government. 7. Part-time Classes: Clause 8, Section 1, of the Vocational Education Law is as follows: "Part-time classes in an industrial, agricultural or domestic science school or department, shall mean a vocational class for persons giving a part of their working time to profitable employment and receiving in the part-time school or department, instruction complementary to the practical work ear- Agricultural Schools and Departments. 13 ried on in such employment. To give a part of their working time such persons must give a part of each day, week or longer period to such part-time class during the period in which it is in session. ' ' All the regulations governing the vocational agricultural schools or departments shall apply to the work of the part-time classes except the regulations covering "Home Work" and "Demonstra- tion Plots." 8. Evening Classes: In Clause 7, Section 1, of the Vocational Education Law is the following statement: "Evening class in an industrial, agricultural or domestic science school or department shall mean a class giving such training as can be taken by persons already employed during the working day, and which in order to be called vocational must in its instruction deal with the subject- matter of the day employment, and be so carried on as to relate to the day employment." All regulations governing the vocational agricultural schools or departments shall apply to the work of the evening classes except the regulations covering "Home Work" and "Demonstration Plots." 9. Home Work: Each pupil in the day classes of the voca- tional agricultural school or department must select a line or lines of practical farm work to be pursued at home during winter and summer as an integral part of his course of study. The teacher must submit to the state board of education, within three weeks after the beginning of the school term, an outline of the home work to be pursued by each pupil. With each outline must be given the name, age, postoffice address, and general home conditions of the pupil who is to do the work. The projects for the winter months may consist in feeding sAvine, sheep, cattle, or poultry, for market; feeding poultry for egg production ; caring for a dairy cow and her products ; caring for a team of horses, or a brood sow ; selecting, testing and grading seeds for farm crops ; poultry hatching, etc. Most of the above named projects are suitable for summer. To these may be added corn growing, gardening, canning fruits and vegetables, marketing farm products, small fruit growing, etc. Both the winter and the summer project work must be person- ally supervised and inspected by the agricultural teacher. Each pupil must keep a careful record of his home work and must make a written report to be submitted to the state board of education upon the completion of the project. 14 Vocational Education in Indiana. 10. Demonstration Plots: Full provision must be made for work on ground owned by or under the control of the school corpo- ration. If the ground is leased, the contract should provide for a lease of not less than ten years. At least one-tenth of an acre should be provided for each pupil enrolled. No attempt should be made to use the ground as a model farm. It should be used for lab- oratory purposes in demonstrating seed bed preparation, conditions essential to germination, proper methods of adding vegetable mat- ter to the soil, hot bed construction and management, home garden plans, methods of cultivation, fruit growing, etc. It is not necessary that these plots be cultivated by the pupils ilining the summer, because the important part of the work with land is provided for in the home projects. However, the ground might be tilled, under the direction of the agricultural teacher, by the pupils who live in town, or by energetic boys who are not enrolled in the school or department. 11. Advisory Committee: The advisory committee provided for in Section 9 of the Vocational Education Law shall consist of five members, three of which at least shall be actively .engaged in some phase of farming. It is advisable that one or two members of the committee be women who are wholly familiar with farm home problems. In accordance with the provisions in the law, the duty of the advisory committee shall be to "counsel with and advise the board and other school officials responsible for the management and supervision of ' ' the vocational agricultural school or department. The board of education or township trustee administering the school or department in question shall appoint the advisory com- mittee. The appointments must be approved by the state board of education. Before steps are taken to secure the agricultural teach- er, the board of education or township trustee must submit to the state board of education the names of the members of the advisory committee together with a full statement of the qualifications of each person for a position on the committee. Within thirty days after the names have been submitted, the state board of education shall take final action on the question of approval. 12. Approval of Work: The action of the state board of edu- cation relative to approval of the work of the vocational agricul- tural school or department shall be based on the report made by the board of education or school trustee through the teacher of agricul- ture, and the reports made by the state supervisor of agricultural education. These reports must be submitted in writing to the Agricultural Schools and Departments. 15 state board of education on or before July 1st, of each year, imme- diately following the completion of the work. 13. Communications to the State Board: All reports required to be made to the state board of education and requests for infor- mation not contained in this bulletin relative to vocational agricul- tural schools or departments should be addressed to either the state superintendent of public instruction or the state supervisor of agricultural education, Department Public Instruction, Indian- apolis. 14. Home Economics: Wherever vocational agricultural schools or departments are established, there will be, no doubt, a need for home economics work for girls. Courses covering the home economics subjects have not been included in this bulletin, because these courses will be outlined in a special bulletin dealing with the special schools or departments for domestic science or home-making. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 000E7442b3fl