Early History of Agricultural Education

AGED 3203

Change through legislation

• Morrill Act of 1862

• Hatch Act of 1887

• Morrill Act of 1890

• Smith-Lever Act, 1914

• Smith-Hughes Act, 1917

• Vocational Education Act of 1963

• Carl Perkins Act of 1984

Who taught ag ed?

• MA, CT,TN,NH had vo-ag in late 1800s

• Agricultural education carried out by the Grange and Farm Bureau

• Ag (science/nature study) was taught to give relevance to education for rural youth

• 1912 curriculum was agronomy, rural engineering, lab and field work

What was it like?

• Vocational - school farms, boarding schools

• Nature Study

• Agriculture– Agronomy - soils, fertilizer, harvesting, etc.

– Zootechny - animal production, breeding,

– Rural Engineering - construction, irrigation, roads, drainage, sewage

– Rural Economy - history of ag, capital, cost of production, marketing, farm management

Smith-Hughes

• Created vocational-agriculture

• Mandated supervised farming project for all students

• Federal funding to train teachers

• Moved ag ed curriculum to Vo-Ag I - IV

• $1500 to school if they taught vo-ag

Vo-Ag at Oklahoma A & M

• Taught high school ag to get the $1500

• Dropped program in 1919

• School of Ag housed in Morrill Hall

• 1915 state law mandated that all students pass a course in ag.

1917

• Qualifications to teach vo-ag– 120 credit hours

• 40 hours in ag and 15 in pedagogy– 21 years old– character that would fit him for leadership

in the community and for directing students in their school work and home projects

– In 1919 “practice teaching” begins