The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, the act providing federal funds to support the teaching of agriculture in public schools, had a requirement that (Section 10) “…schools shall provide for directed supervised practice in agriculture, either on a farm provided for by the school or others farm, for at least six months per year.” The words “directed supervised practice” was interpreted to mean agricultural students had to have farming projects.
The Federal Board for Vocational Education, created by the Smith-Hughes Act, published Bulletin 1 Statement of Policies, which provided guidance and answers to questions about the Smith-Hughes Act. The 1922 revision of Bulletin 1 addressed the following question (p. 29) “Are all students enrolled in agricultural classes required to do at least six months directed or supervised practice in agriculture?” The answer to the question was “Yes. No choice can be made or discretion exercised by the board in dealing with this mandatory provision of section 10 of the Act.”
So the question is “How did this “supervised practice” requirement in the Smith- Hughes Act come to be?” It was not suggested by Senator Smith or Congressman Hughes. To answer this question we need to make a field trip to Massachusetts.
This Footnote introduces the next state, Massachusetts, in our series of Footnotes looking at agricultural education in various states.
A Provision in a Will
Oliver Smith of Hatfield, Massachusetts died on December 22, 1845. In his will he bequeathed $30,000 to the town of Northampton to provide for a school of agriculture and the mechanical arts for “poor boys of fair character.” The instructions in the will required the bequest to accumulate interest for 60 years (which ended up being $310,663.39 in 1905). When the fund matured three trustees (one being a farmer, one a mechanic and one other citizen) were to be elected annually from the town of Northampton. They were to establish a school that “shall be designated and called Smith’s Agricultural School.” (Garvey, 1948).
Another unique condition of the will was that when a pupil had reached the age of 21 and learned the habits of industry, sobriety, and economy he would be given a loan of $200 to go into business for himself. If the recipient continued his good habits for five years, the loan would be forgiven.
In 1905 the trustees were elected and went about the task of establishing the school. They bought 90 acres of land on Locust Street in Northampton. In 1907 the trustees, following the advice of the State Industrial Commission, bought a herd of dairy cattle for the new school and developed plans to build a dormitory to house the students. This action was patterned on wide experience and embodied the dominant ideas of the day.
One of the tasks facing the trustees was to identify and recruit a person to be the Director of the School. This was a daunting task for the local trustees, so they decided to ask for advice from Harvard University. Paul Hanus, a noted scholar and Chair of the Department of Education, was contacted and asked for a recommendation. He immediately gave the trustees a name – Rufus Stimson, the President of the Connecticut Agricultural College.
Figure 1. The Boston Globe, February 1, 1908
Stimson at Smith’s Agricultural School
Rufus Stimson, who had degrees from Harvard and Yale, had been a professor and then President of the Connecticut Agricultural College (now UCONN) for 11 years prior to being offered the position of Director of Smith’s Agricultural School. He readily accepted the offer because he wanted to try a new approach to agricultural education.
Stimson had three concerns about the “traditional” way of teaching agriculture at the college level (Note: in the early 1900s much of the agriculture taught at the college level was remedial or low level instruction). The three concerns Stimson had were:
Forced Manual Labor – the agriculture students at colleges were required to work on the school farm for a certain amount of time. They had no vested interest in the work. Students from farm backgrounds didn’t learn much new and made fun of non-farm students trying to learn farm tasks. Stimson believed too many students stood around watching other students work and that forced labor on somebody else’s farm was not ideal. Students equated forced manual labor as a form of slavery.
State Owned Livestock and Equipment Was Not Typical of Actual Farm Conditions – While at the Connecticut Agricultural College Stimson was conducting a demonstration on how to judge Guernsey dairy cattle. After a student had judged an extremely high quality bull, Stimson heard the student state, “He ought to be a good one; the State owns him, and the State feeds him.” Stimson noted, “Everywhere there is a tendency to discount college-owned or school-owned livestock and operations.”
Building College Dormitories Was Expensive – Stimson was concerned about the high cost of college. Housing students in dormitories built by the college and maintaining them only added to the cost of attending college.
When Stimson was offered the position of Director of Smith’s Agricultural School, he asked the trustees to sell the dairy herd and not build any dormitories. The trustees had been told by Professor Hanus to give Stimson free reign; so they agreed to Stimson’s request. Stimson needed a place to implement his new idea for teaching agriculture.
Figure 2. Smith’s Agricultural School
Stimson’s idea was to have the students live on their home farms and to practice what they had learned on their own farms with their own equipment and livestock. He published a brochure in 1908, the year the school opened, on this new approach to teaching agriculture. He called it the “school and home-farm cooperation” plan. Basically the brochure stated students will learn agriculture at the school but apply what they have learned to their home farms through the use of home projects.
Figure 3. Massachusetts agriculture students with their Home Projects, circa 1910-1918
The idea caught on. In 1908, 1909, 1910 and 1911 the State Grange urged the adoption of the idea in any school teaching agriculture in Massachusetts. In 1911 the state legislature agreed and incorporated the “home project plan” into state law for schools teaching agriculture.
To learn more about Stimson including his 1930 era fight against the national FFA to include females into the FFA, visit:
- The Massachusetts Situation – The Fight to Allow Girls in the FFA Begins (1/4/2019)
- The Massachusetts Situation – A Profile in Courage (1/11/2019)
- The Massachusetts Situation: The Rest of the Story (1/18/2019)
The Home Project Idea Spreads
In the History of Agricultural Education of Less Than College Grade in the United States we learn (Stimson & Lathrop,1942, p. 597):
In 1909, David Snedden came to Massachusetts to be commissioner of education under a new board of education to which had been given the powers formerly exercised by the commission on industrial education. He liked the “school and home-farm cooperation” idea, and began to preach its general adoption from coast to coast. C. A. Prosser was brought in to be deputy commissioner of education in charge of vocational education; and he liked what he saw. He called it “Stimson’s part-time work plan,” thus emphasizing the fact that the plan involved part-time instruction in school and parttime practical work on the home farm.
In 1912 Prosser became the secretary of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. In this position Prosser promoted the home project idea across the country. He even arranged for a group of noted agricultural educators to travel to Massachusetts, starting in Northampton, to see first hand how the home project idea worked. They were impressed.
One of the educators on the trip was William Bawden, editor of the Vocational Education magazine. He published an article, “Agricultural education thru home projects: the Massachusetts plan” in the November, 1913 issue of the magazine. This article was widely read and cited in other publications.
In 1911 Stimson was offered the position of state supervisor of agricultural education in Massachusetts. He accepted this position and remained in it until he reached mandatory retirement age in 1938. As state supervisor he traveled extensively speaking about, writing about and promoting the home project plan.
The Inclusion of Home Projects in the Smith-Hughes Act
In 1914 a National Commission on Aid to Vocational Education was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to determine if vocation education funding was needed on a national basis. After collecting data and holding hearings the Commission’s recommendation was a resounding yes.
Charles Prosser was a member of the Commission. One must remember he worked closely with Rufus Stimson while in Massachusetts and was also a lawyer. As part of its work, the National Commission prepared what it considered to be a model legislative act. It is widely recognized that Prosser was a major player in writing the model legislation. In the report of the Commission, the provisions of the model legislation are described. In the section dealing with the provisions regarding agricultural education we find (Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education, 1914, p. 80):
Any school in order to share in the appropriation must provide for directed or supervised practice in agriculture, either on the home farm or on a farm provided by the school.”
Does that sound familiar? I wonder why the Smith-Hughes Act reversed the home farm and school farm language?
Concluding Remarks
A spokesperson for a local Toyota dealer in Raleigh, NC says “Now you Know” at the end of each commercial touting the advantages of the Toyota dealership. In case you wondered where the idea of Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) programs came from, “Now you Know.” Smith’s Agricultural School in Northampton, Massachusetts is the birthplace of SAE.
Smith’s Agricultural School still exists today but the name has changed. It is now Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School. It was the first vocational school in Massachusetts. According to their website:
Today, Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School is a public high school for residents of Northampton and tuition students from all of Hampshire County on a “space available” basis. Students spend alternating weeks in shop and academic programs as they prepare for both a high school diploma and a Certificate of Occupational Proficiency. Graduates of Smith School are expected to meet academic standards, achieve occupational competency, develop ready-to-go work skills, and prepare for continuing education. Integration of technology in course work is encouraged, and students have access to state-of-the-art computer labs with Internet capability. A focus on the acquisition of key life skills-good work habits, reliability, self-confidence, resilience, problem-solving-serves to guide students in their personal growth.
The agricultural programs at Smith include Agricultural Mechanics, Animal Science and Horticulture/Forestry.
Next week we will continue our exploration of agricultural education in Massachusetts.
References
Garvey, Richard (1948). Oliver Smith, Esquire.
Stimson, R. & Lathrop, F. (1942). History of Agricultural Education of Less Than College Grade in the United States. Vocational Division Bulletin No. 217. Federal Security Agency. U. S. Government Printing Office.
Vocational education : Report of the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education together with the Hearings held on the subject, made pursuant to the provisions of Public resolution no. 16, Sixty-third Congress (S. J. res. 5). Washington, Government Printing Office. 1914.