The Agronomic Education Division—Past, Present, and Future 1

N AGRONOMIC Education Division of the American A s o c i e t y of Agronomy was first proposed in 1947. Prior to this date, activities of the resident and extension teachers in the society were, in general, loosely organized. In later years, however, two standing committees, Education and Extension Participation, were appointed by the president of the society. Through the years, interest in teaching and extension has had its “highs” and “lows” and for the most part has been directly related to the leadership available among members of the society. Perusal of literature from 1907 up to the present time, including the Proceedings of the American Society of Agronomy, the Journal of the American Society of Agronomy, and the Agronomy Journal indicates that on the average only one paper relating to teaching and extension has been published annually. Some years were void of any papers whatsoever in the field of agronomic education. According to these publications, several symposiums on teaching and extension were held. General subjects covered in symposiums and papers included: standardization of elementary courses in farm crops and soils, the value of laboratories in teaching; how to prepare lecture and laboratory material for effective teaching, student counselling, examinations and tests, extra-curricular activities, and teacher evaluation. In extension they included: integrating research and extension, organization of extension work, development of extension programs on soil conservation and on other specific subjects, the use of effective aids, and “selling” the extension program. The Student Activities Section was proposed in 1921. The president of the American Society of Agronomy that year was authorized to appoint a committee to consider a national organization for agronomy students. A questionnaire was sent to the agronomy departments of 24 institutions asking for information to be used in considering the question. On the basis of this questionnaire and other correspondence in 1922 the committee recommended “that the American Society of Agronomy go on record as favoring a national organization of students in Agronomy, but believing that the initiative in the formation of such an organization be left to the students. The president appointed a committee of three to act in an advisory capacity to the students in case they attempted to launch a national organization.” According to records there was no follow-up on this recommendation ( 1 ) . In the spring of 1932 the president of the society again appointed a committee to investigate the possibility of a National Student Activities Section. This committee recommended that the society authorize the organization of such a group. In 1932, at the fall meetings of the society this