Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-06-20
AoRicULruRAL INSTRUCTION IN
STATS H,oH SCHOOLS OF.
cLAREp uhpRoFirAsLE.
COURSE IN MANY scHools
WILL NOT be ACCREDITED
ssats inspector Of High Schools No.
Z clsnahan Points to Faults in Mstheds
Of Training -Tsaehsrs Not Thor
oushiy Qualified Big Hindrsnes to
Werk-Poor Work q Disersdit.
special to Times Republican.

Special to Times-Republican.
Alnes, June 20.--A great many high
schools in Iowa are putting agriculture
into their courses Of study but in
large measure they are teaching it In
way that IL likely to discredtt the
whole movement for agricultural ed
ucation. That was the opinion ex-
pressed this afternoon by the state
inspector Of high schools, p. f. NC
Clenahan, of Des Moines. In an address
to prospective teachers Of agriculture
at the summer session Of Iowa state
College. Not many more than score
of high schools in the state are at the
present time teaching agriculture In
manner that Is accredited by the state
! board Of education. yet good many
times that number are trying to teach
agriculture after a fashion.
There is much Of feeling abroad,
said Mr.. McClenahan, that anybody
can teach agriculture with the help OF
text book. Anybody can not teacn
agriculture. Because the teacher
teaches botany and other sciences
quite satisfactorily is no reason to ex-
pect that he ! will teach agriculture
satisfactorily without special training
for it.. Not even teachers who are born
and reared on the farm are always
competent to- teach agriculture. To
make q success of this work there
must by all means be some kind OF
special preparation for 1t. No school
board would expect a teacher to do
good Woris In Latin classes without
special training. why should board
expect any man or woman to be any
more successful in agriculture without
this training? Text books are all right
in their place In this work. and wher-
ever text books have been used without
a trained teacher back of them, there
has been disappointment in results.
"Carelessness and indifference in re-
curing teachers who are not specially
trained. will do more to harm the cause
of agricultural education in our public
high schools than any other thing. 1t
will give the whole movement a black
eye.
III the school boards expect the state
board Of education and the college OF
the state to give them credit for work
done in agriculture they must see that
their teachers are trained and that
they provide proper equipment for
laboratory. etc. Otherwise the work
that students do in agricultural courses
will not count on college credit en-
trance. Men and women who expect
to do this work in public schools must
fit themselves by taking some such
work as Is offered them at the summer
session here"
In this CONNECTION It was brought
out that Iowa 10 losing most Of its
trained agricultural teachers who
graduate from the state college be-
cause 1t is not paying enough salary to
get them. They are going to sur-
rounding states like Minnesota.
The summer session opened this
week with an enrolment of about $50.
1t has brought together fine type
Of public school teacher and a good
many college students who are doing
work for college credit.