Wisconsin Agricultural High Schools

In an excellent introductory article on the subject of Wisconsin’s Agricultural High Schools our bright and pithy contemporaries, the Wisconsin Farmer, observes:

"The popular conception of agriculture, until a few years ago, was that of an occupation which required no preparation but that of a large stock of muscle and brawn, and the relationship of a grandfather to show us the location of the permanent wheat, corn and rye fields. For the ordinary farmer, no great store of any sort of knowledge was conceded necessary or helpful to his sum of prosperity or happiness. Plans were made for the enjoyment of church conveniences, as well as nearness to district schools, where boys and girls might learn to read and write, but this was the limit, for most of them, of their chance to develop their minds in successful farm work.

To-day most people, of both city and country, have shed this clumsy mantle of ignorance and prejudice. We have come to see something of the genuine greatness of the profession of agriculture in the life of our nation; and to this end, our latest and best efforts have been made with the aim that farm boys should be given what is their rightful heritage. They have a right to a special training- a training that shall better fit them to plan and carry on their work, and which will open their eyes to the wonderful life all about them, and create in them such a love and respect for their calling that no shadow of discontent will arise in their lives, and no ordinary influence will be able to draw them away from the rural life that yields them such health, wealth and happiness as could no other avocation of this country.

Most happily, the parents now on the farms have awakened to the fact that their own occupation is a particularly good one of their boys to follow. They are well grounded in this belief at present, and quite jealously guard against influences which might draw their children away to less pleasant and profitable occupations.

The work in four county high schools already established in Wisconsin has been carried on but six years. Before the sessions of the Legislature of 1901, Hon. L. D. Harvey, as special commissioner appointed for the purpose, gave a report on the rural-school situation in its relation to agriculture and farm training. He recommended county training schools, supported jointly by the State and the counties where such schools should be located. The Legislature acted favorably, and the two schools were built the following year, the one at Wausau,Marathon County, opening October 6th, 1902, and the work at Menomonie, Dunn County, beginning at almost the same time. The present law provides that two-thirds of the expense of maintenance, up to a limit of $4,000 annually, shall be borne by the State. The buildings erected are all light, airy, convenient, and, altogether, well planned and of good appearance. All present instructors give good evidence of a vital interest in the life and welfare of their several schools. Any parent who has doubts as to the intrinsic value of the courses given in soil study, plant and animal life, shop practice in wood and iron work, farm building architecture, landscape gardening, farm dairying, animal husbandry, poultry raising, fruit-growing, and study of insect life for the boys, with the splendid training received by the girls in their courses in domestic science and economy, will do well to observe the subsequent work of the graduates as they go back to the farms and use the acquired knowledge and training in a common-sense manner. Scores are already doing this. The agriculture-school graduate is the best advertisement of the agricultural school. The Wisconsin agricultural high schools are being imitated in other States, and this more than anything else leads the Wisconsin people to believe that in these schools they have a very valuable asset. It will be shown that the best kind of foundation for an agricultural education can be given in these schools and that such education, even if not carried further in the university, in itself contributes much in the way of making those who go back to the farm better farmers, and, above all, better citizens."