January 1, 1915. Division II. The incubation of at least three settings of hen's eggs and the care and management of the chicks for a period of at least eight months. Enrollment not later than March 15, 1915. Division III. The management, for breeding purposes, of two turkey hens and one gobbler. Enrollment not later than March 15, 1915. Division IV. The incubation of at least one setting of turkey eggs and the care and management of the young turkeys for a period of at least six months. Enrollment not later than March 15, 1916. 4. Dairy herd record keeping.-Obtaining the milk, butter fat, and feed record of two or more cows for a period of at least eight months. Enrollment not later than January 1, 1915. Massachusetts had an exceptionally complete and instructive exhibit of its system of State-aided vocational education. No other State probably has been quite so successful as Massachusetts in the organization of vocational education for all its people, whether they live in town or in the country. These schools comprise not alone day schools for boys and girls, but part-time schools for young people between 14 and 16 years and also evening schools for men and women. The effectiveness of the Massachusetts system of vocational education is due in large measure to a carefully organized system of administration. The deputy commissioner of education is in direct charge of all vocational education. Through him State agents supervise all the agricultural schools, home-making schools, industrial schools, and teacher-training courses established under the vocational education law. State-aided vocational agricultural education. Of particular interest to the present discussion are the State-aided agricultural schools and agricultural departments in selected high schools. These comprised a most striking part of the Massachusetts exhibit in the form of graphic charts, photographs, stereomotographs, and an illuminated profile map illustrative of home project work. At the present time four separately organized agricultural schools and nine agricultural departments in high schools are receiving State aid. The schools are organized to meet the needs of three kinds of pupils: All-day pupils, part-time pupils, and evening pupils. All-day pupils.-Boys and girls, 14 to 16 years of age, who devote the entire day to study and project work. One-half of their time is devoted to productive agricultural work, mainly supervised home projects; 30 per cent is devoted to studies bearing directly upon their daily tasks, and the balance of their time is devoted to the general culture subjects. Part-time pupils.-Young men engaged in farming who devote part of the day or part of the week to school work, all of it with a direct bearing on the regular employment. Evening pupils.-Limited to persons over 17 years of age who are regularly engaged in productive agriculture. This group comprises dairymen, truck farmers, fruit growers, etc. Pupil activities.-The most important are home projects, of which there is a large variety, all the work being done under the immediate direction of the school instructors. The following are illustrative: School projects are of two kinds-conducted by the school for demonstration purposes and conducted by the pupils on land provided by the school. "Earning and learning."-In this carefully planned and supervised scheme the pupil earns as well as learns. He must make written reports and keep careful accounts of all outlays and receipts. The following list gives the earning of the schools for the year 1914: Enrollment and earnings of Massachusetts vocational schools in 1914. Supervision. Much of the success of the Massachusetts system is due to the thoroughgoing supervision employed. The State supervisor cooperates closely with each local instructor in securing the highest degree of productive efficiency for the pupils. The instructors who teach the subjects in the schools supervise that particular project. In addition the law provides for the appointment of an advisory committee of farmers, who are of great assistance in furnishing practical advice and in popularizing the agricultural projects in the community. The Massachusetts vocational schools are successful in reaching all the people in the Commonwealth. They appeal especially to young people who have left the public school at too early an age to be effectually prepared for life responsibilities because the school had failed to make vital appeal to them or because the school had offered no particular preparation for suitable life callings. INDIANA. The Indiana booth was given over entirely to school improvement through school consolidation. It included artistically arranged transparencies devoted to community activities, centering about the well-organized Indiana consolidated schools and school architecture, showing graphically the change from the small pioneer schools to the modern farm-community graded and high schools. A corner was devoted to strikingly arranged miniatures of two school communities before and after consolidation. In addition to this there was a good display of handwork from the consolidated schools, besides a stereomotograph with alternating sets of "slides" on consolidated schools, activities in these schools, and means of preparing teachers for the schools. Progress in rural school consolidation.-Indiana affords a good example of what progressive legislation can do to promote school reorganization by means of consolidation. Indiana has to-day, next to Louisiana, the largest number of consolidated schools and, on the basis of effectiveness, the largest number of all the States. The first of these laws, passed in 1899, made provision for free transportation of children living 2 or more miles from the nearest school; the second law (1900) required the township trustees to abandon all small schools with less than 12 pupils and pay for their transportation to some other school; the third law (1907) made it mandatory for trustees to provide transportation for pupils attending consolidated elementary schools. The State department of public instruction has compiled the following statistics, which tell in a striking way the growth of school consolidation in Indiana: CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS IN INDIANA. Number of consolidated elementary schools. Number of consolidated combined elementary and high schools Total number of consolidated schools_. Number of pupils transported to consolidated schools___ Average cost of transportation per pupil transported_. Number of abandoned schools reopened this year__. Number of schools (not consolidated) abandoned this year. Total number of abandoned school districts in the State at the present_time_____ |