Teachers Vow to Reach High School-Aged Boys Not In School With Short Courses, Dec. 11, 1922

Short Courses for Farm Boys. . . Necessary to Reach the Lads Who Find It Necessary to Drop Out of School

By Roy H. Thomas, State Supervisor of Agricultural Education

Out of every 100 farm boys between the ages of 14 and 20, 52 are out of school and 48 are in school—this is the situation that exists in the rural communities of North Carolina today. Recent figures announced by the Federal Board for Vocational Education show that the farm boys between the ages of 14 and 20 number 111,939 and that they comprise 14.7 per cent of the State’s entire male population. Of this number, 54,055 are attending school while 57,884 are out of school.

Of the 54,055 who are in school only one out of 27 is receiving training designed to prepare him for the business of farming and life on the farm. This specific training for life on the farm is being given by the 80 agricultural high schools in the State. Obviously only those boys who happen to live near one of these schools has the privilege of this training.

The farm boys present two problems:

1. More money is needed to establish additional agricultural high schools in order that a larger number of farm boys who are in school may receive training for their life work.

2. Something should be done to help the boy out of school. In fact, he is a bigger problem than the boy in school. One way of helping him is for the local high schools to conduct short courses during the winter months and bring those boys in for a few months instruction. |This instruction should be designed to help the boys meet more efficiently the rigorous duties of farming and farm life. The agricultural high schools of the State reached several hundred of these boys last year, and they are planning to reach more this year. In their meeting during the teachers’ assembly the agricultural teachers adopted as their motto: “Help The Boy Not In School By Conducting Parttime or Short Courses.” Each teacher pledged himself to reach as many boys as possible who were not in school. It is reasonable to suppose that most of the farmers of tomorrow in any community will come from the group who are not in school today. Can we expect any great improvement in farming, living and social conditions from such a group? The problem of the boy not in school presents a challenge to State, county and local school officials.

From page 3 of The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C., Monday morning, Dec. 11, 1922