Texas A and M University - Aggieland Yearbook (College Station, TX)

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The School of Vocational Teaching DEPARTMENTS Agricultural Education Rural Education Industrial Education C. H. Winkler, B.S., A.M., Ph.D. Dean lOOUR courses of study may be pursued in the School of Vocational Teaching; each of them A- leads to a degree. The course in Agricultural Education is designed to give the teacher of vocational agriculture the preparation and training, in both technical agriculture and in educa¬ tion subjects, required to qualify under the Federal Vocational Education act. The purpose of the course in Industrial Arts is to prepare men to teach Industrial Arts or Manual Training as offered in the public schools. The course in Industrial Education is intended to train teachers, supervisors and directors for the general continuation and trade and industrial schools of Texas. The course in Rural Education is offered in response to the increasing demand for high school principals and superintendents who have had the benefit of an agricultural college education in their preparation for leadership in the solution of rural-life problems. The graduate work of the school occupies an important place in the College. During the preceding year the enrollment in the graduate courses of the School of Vocational Teaching amounted to eighty per cent of the total enrollment of the Graduate School. Each year a large number of the graduates from this school take their places in the educa¬ tional system of the State. Two out of every three of the teachers of Vocational Agriculture trained in Texas are graduates of this school, while four out of five obtained the major part of their technical training at the A. and M. College. The influence of the high school tuition bill passed by the Thirty-ninth Legislature is bringing into small-town high schools many farm boys who were heretofore denied the privilege. This in turn has resulted in the establishment of a larger number of new departments of Vocational Agriculture in such high schools, thus increasing the demand for teachers of Agriculture. Since the inauguration of Industrial Education under the Federal Vocational Education Act in 1917 Industrial Arts has been grossly neglected by the high schools of Texas. Presumably this attitude was due to the assumption that Industrial Education would take its place. There is now a renewed interest in Industrial Arts and a clearer concept of its function in the high school curriculum which has created a demand for trained teachers far in excess of the supply. Through the Industrial Education Department in co-operation with the various departments of the School of Engineering, the school now offers every requisite for the complete preparation of these teachers in one of its four-year courses. Through the Division of Visual Instruction, films, lantern slides, and chart services have been maintained by the School for teachers of Vocational Agriculture, county agents and other exten¬ sion workers. Page 25

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sm Ikf-m m W Tte School of Veterinary Medicine DEPARTMENTS Veterinary Anatomy Veterinary Medicine and Surgery Veterinary Pathology Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology Mark Francis, D.V.M. Dean npHIS course has for its object the advancement of the medical profession. The instruction dL given in this school embraces those matters pertaining to animal diseases and their relation to public health. The importance of this is readily understood when we recall that Texas has about eight hundred million dollars worth of animals, of which we lose about two per cent annually from preventable causes. The College attempts to train young men in the cause and treatment of diseases, also in those physical and biological sciences that are so essential to the understanding of those problems. The oourse of .study extends over four years and is arranged to meet the requirements of the Civil Service Commission. Our graduates are eligible to appointment in the Army, in the Department of Agriculture, in the State Livestock Commission, and in Public Health Work. To many men it offers a very important field for usefulness. The freshman and sophomore years are, in a large measure, devoted to those physical and biological studies that contribute so much to an understanding of the problems of the course. The junior and senior years are devoted almost entirely to studies of a highly technical nature. Those who expect to engage in ranching, dairying or some other branch of animal industry, will find the course of great value to them in preventing serious losses from diseases or mis¬ management of their animals. Several men who have a biological mind have found the work to be an interesting life study, and such men are in great demand in matters of public health or as investigators in Experiment Stations. Those who pursue the course from commercial motives find its rewards are similar to those of any other form of human endeavor in that these will always be in proportion to the intelligence and energy displayed by the individual. There is a course which offers an opportunity for students to get training both in Animal Husbandry and in Veterinary Medicine. It is so arranged that the courses of study in both curricula can be completed in six years. In many instances it is desirable that students entering into the animal industries have a more thorough understanding of Veterinary Medicine than can be given in the four-year course in Animal Husbandry. Many positions which are open to graduates in Veterinary Medicine carry with them the responsibility that requires more training in Animal Husbandry than can be offered in a four-year course. The course offered for graduate students affords an opportunity for observation of the more intricate and recent phases of the profession. It is arranged for advanced students or teachers who wish to make a study of modern experimental methods. The work is arranged to suit the needs of the student and to be in harmony with his previous experience and training.

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Charles H. Alvord, M.S. Agr. Director The Extension Service np ' HE A. and M. College, in co-operation with the United ih States Department of Agriculture, has the largest Extension organization in the United States. Texas started the Demon¬ stration Work which spread all over the country, and caused Congress and State authorities to make appropriations for the support of a system of extension activities. Such work is carried on at the land-grant colleges and in the counties of the different states. The A. and M. College was the first in the country to provide a separate building for headquarters for such work. Other colleges are constantly writing to Texas for information and suggestions along these lines. More than 300 agents, supervisors, and specialists are employed in this enterprise. Including county, state, and federal funds, nearly a million dollars are expended each year in conducting this work in Texas, while the total appropriations for the whole country run above twenty millions. During the first week in February, 1929, the Extension Agents of Texas will have as their guests their fellow workers of all the other states in a great convention in Houston. This will be the 25th Anniversary of the founding of this work in Texas. Other educational associ¬ ations will unite in the celebration. The Association of Southern Agricultural Workers has already accepted the invitation. The first farm demonstration was conducted on the farm of Walter C. Porter near Terrell, Texas, in 1903. Dr. Seaman A. Knapp secured the support of the business men and conducted the demonstration. James Wilson, the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, who, by the way, served as a Cabinet officer longer than anyone else in the entire history of the country, came to Houston in the fall of 1903 and made arrangements for Dr. Knapp to begin appointing agents to put on hundreds of such demonstrations. Dr. Knapp had his headquarters in Houston at first, then at Lake Charles, Louisiana, and afterwards at Washington, where he extended the organization and established co-operative relations, with the colleges, and fostered thousands of demonstrations with crops, livestock, soil building, and home building. At first the work on the farms was conducted by adult farmers, but the boys wanted to have a part in A it, so corn clubs were begun. Then the boys took up other lines of agriculture. The girls made demonstration gardens, using tomatoes at first. Then they took up other vegetables and fruit and poultry. With the help of the mothers a system of home demonstration work was evolved. The 4-H Clubs became an important phase of the general plan, and now millions of farm and home demonstrations are conducted every year. The Extension Agents give a definition something like this: “A demonstration is a progressive, practical example of better farming or home making, by a farmer or a member of his family, which leads to more profit, comfort, culture, influence and power.” There are nearly two hundred men agents, specialists and supervisors engaged in the field operations of the Extension Service. Of this number eighty-seven are graduates of the A. and M. College of Texas. When it is considered that the vocational education work calls for about the same number of teachers, and that chambers of commerce, railroads, fertilizer companies and other organizations and institutions employ men in related and similar lines, it seems that many students of the college may look forward to careers of usefulness by being well prepared for such activities. Page 2b