New Jersey Agricultural College - Four Leaf Clover Yearbook (New Brunswick, NJ)

Page 99 text:

A More Efficient Short Course x BY josnrrr R. BERDAN. FFICIENCY in agriculture is the prime object of the State in providing the Short Courses, and it is only with a desire to increase this efhciency that any suggestions relating to the school curriculum may reasonably be made. The eight years elapsing since the inauguration of Short Course work by the State of New Jersey has witnessed great development in this direction, and a constant effort to fit the courses to the growing and ever-changing needs of the student body has been always evident. That further improvement may still be made is only natural, and it is with the hope of aiding such improve- ment that the suggestions here made are offered. There is probably no occupation in which environment plays such an im- portant part as in the practice of farming. The student entering an agricul- tural course should be positive that he is temperamentally fitted for agricultural work and that rural life is to be fully as attractive to him as life in the town or city. Completion of a Short Course term by the student lacking familiarity with actual farm. conditions, only to find that prolonged association with such surroundings is distasteful, would not only involve useless expense on his part in pursuing his studies, but would entail an actual loss to the State in the investment it has made in the education of that individual. Such a result might be reasonably obviated by an entrance requirement of at least one year's practical farm experience. This requirement would naturally add to the efficiency of the courses by placing the entire student body on a more common footing and by furnishing a sounder basis for the successful study of the sub- jects offered. A The duration of the course is necessarily limited by the period of compara- tive inactivity on the farm, and yet the wide range of work to be covered would seem to make a somewhat longer course desirable. By the lengthening of the term to seventeen weeks, or from November first to March first, the subjects offered might be more thoroughly absorbed without serious interfer- ence with the farm program through the student's extended absence from his home. 98

Page 98 text:

The Forge Shop lt is the Short Course blacksmith shop that most appeals to us, W' ith Mr. Holfman and his forge to keep us company. You take some soft pine shavings and mix them with the coal, Then with a match you start the thing and the smoke begins to roll. The room is small, the ceiling low, the ventilation poor, Your eyes they run, your nose you blow, you cough and sneeze and roar Then you see a ligure faintly standing by the door. It is Mr. Hoffman praying the boys will smoke no more. And when the smoke has cleared a bit you pound and pound away Upon a. piece of red-hot iron the balance of the day. If we could get Boss Minkler to some day come inside, We know 'twoulcl take some urging, and none of us have tried, We are sure he would see the hardship of this suffocating job, And if he stayed there long enough we're sure his head would throb. So now our poem is hnished, but some day we hope to see A decent shop upon the hill, where the old one used to be. 97 C73

Page 100 text:

The specihc conditions existing on the individual farm are such that, in order to meet them successfully, the prescribed schedules in the General Agri- culture and Dairy Husbandry Course and in the Fruit Growing and Market Gardening Course should be subject to modiiication. The average student would undoubtedly work to better advantage if certain studies in these courses were made optional. The substitution of a desired subject for one which the individual feels is not so well fitted to his particular needs, would seem a logi- cal improvement in the arrangement of the work. This object might be accom- plished to an extent by dividing each of the two courses mentioned into two distinct parts. cBy such a division we would have four separate branches, viz. : tlj General Agriculture, CZD Dairy Husbandry, Q31 Fruit Growing, t4j Mar- ket Gardening. A combination of any two of these branches might constitute a com-plete course and a certificate be awarded on such a basis. The suggestions tendered and criticisms made will undoubtedly be accepted in the friendly manner in which they are offered. May the Short Course Spirit prevail always and act as a strong intluence toward increased efficiency and better agriculture in our State of New jersey. F5 u- - - 5 .- . 4 4- ' ' I In ., -1 - f'f'lf . . fl If-155 ',Ti :,fl'..,-A-Ljf 'LTL'--'J 'lI1--r f - ' ,-,,..-...---4- ,,,,-. an-,-,.,..--f-f STUDENTS BUILDING COLONY HOUSES 99