Master Farmer Part 5

MASTER FARMER

TEACHING SMALL FARMERS MANAGEMENT

BRUCE M. LANSDALE

WESTVIEW PRESS                       1986

PART V

 

Chapter 3: The Farm School Model

  • Are there dimensions to agricultural schools other than training programs?
  • Is there a place for adult education in secondary agricultural schools?
  • What are the most useful methods in management training?

 

Hodja story #4

One day a beggar smelled the appetizing odors of a goat being cooked on the spit outside a rich miser’s house. He sat down on a nearby stone and started eating his crust of bread, dreaming that he too was eating a roast, as he sniffed the goat. Just as the beggar was finishing, the rich man spied him and demanded payment for the smell of his goat, following a lengthy argument the two were brought before Hodja, the judge. When he heard the story Hodja asked the beggar if he had any money. Protesting, the poor man finally pulled out two coins to hand over. At that moment Hodja withdrew his hand and allowed the coins to drop on the floor. He then asked the rich man if he had heard the coins dropping on the stone floor. When the miser said he had, Hodja paused for a moment and replied, “May the sound of the coins be payment for the smell of the goat.”

Dr. John Henry House, a resolute American missionary, founded the Farm School in 1904 after working for 30 years in the Balkans. The more he worked the more he realized that what the people really needed was to learn to earn their daily bread. He was a practical idealist who saw the need to give young people from the villages more than just knowledge; he wanted to train the whole individual to bring about what is referred to today as a metamorphosis in their heads, their hands, and their hearts and to develop a sense of commitment and service to their fellow beings. He recognized the importance of the “sound of the coin” to a peasant but was equally anxious to emphasize the quality of village life reflected by the “smell of the goat.” Dr. House had no money, but he had a rock solid faith. One visitor referred to him “as a man on fire.” With borrowed funds he and his wife built a two-room mud-brick house with space for twelve orphan boys whom he brought up to understand that there was dignity in working with their hands. Dr. House taught the students tirelessly and set a pattern of introducing new methods and new equipment, a practice that continues today. As he had no money to pay a staff, he taught English to a carpenter, a mason, and a cobbler; in return they taught their trades to the students. From the very beginning, however, he regarded the school as essentially Greek and called it the Thessalonica Agricultural and Industrial Institute. The title American Farm School was used by Greek people to distinguish it from the nearby University of Thessaloniki farm.

In 1916, when Dr. House was 71 years old, the first classroom building was completed, but within a year it burned to the ground. Dr. House’s son Charles came from the United States for a year to help him rebuild and eventually succeeded his father in 1929 as director, staying at the school for 37 years. As an engineer he was able not only to assist his father in administration but also to supervise the construction of a modern campus as well as a model farm with extensive livestock and poultry facilities.

The original cottage on 50 acres of barren land has been developed into what can be referred to as an oasis – 375 acres with 50 buildings and a staff of almost 100. The original 12 students are now 220 boys and girls in a three-year high school level course, more than 3,000 men and women attending short courses sponsored by the Greek Ministry of Agriculture, over 10,000 visitors each year from within Greece as well as from abroad and over 2,500 graduates spread out in the villages throughout Greece. Located on the outskirts of the city of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city with a population of approximately 800,000, the school is laid out to resemble a modern Greek village with residences, school, church, and shops clustered in the center surrounded by fields and pastures.

As discussed in Chapter 1 an agricultural school’s objective is to train the student to become a master farmer able to manage the new agricultural technology. The Farm School history provides a rich store of experiences that are used in this chapter to illustrate the principles involved in this training: balancing theoretical and practical training, developing a management training program, and utilizing short courses to work with adults.

It is interesting to note, from a list prepared at the time the school was founded, what Dr. House considered necessary to start his school:

  1. A house and stable.
  2. A brick oven for baking.
  3. A horse and two-wheeled cart for hauling provisions, etc., from the city.
  4. One yoke of oxen for the winter plowing and another yoke for the spring.
  5. Two cows for milk.
  6. Plows and other farm implements.
  7. Kitchen utensils, furnishings, bedding, etc.
  8. Wages of farmer in charge.

 

In addition to classroom study, the Farm School used an apprentice approach to develop the students’ practical skills. Dr. House also realized the importance of developing proper attitudes among students. One graduate tells the story of having built a wall that was not completely straight, though as far as the student was concerned it was straight enough. When Dr. House saw it he made the boy tear it down and start over. He has never built a crooked wall since.

The House family took great care to kindle self-esteem in the students. They developed a personal interest in each student and took pleasure in discussing the student’s concerns and ambitions with them. Dr. House felt that agricultural training, dealing with problems close to nature and to God, would train a boy for the vocation of his choice, whether it was medicine, law, or agriculture.

Dr. House chose as the school’s motto, Labore est orare – To work is to pray. It is clear from discussions with graduates of those early years that the students were inspired by Dr. House’s ideals of service to one’s fellow men, and they acquired his personal love for nature and farming. A young visitor in 1920 observed a certain aura about the school:

“As I came into town yesterday morning I realized that I never before had been in such a literally heavenly place. I’m not using slang. The place, the people, and the work they are doing combine to make one feel good all over and thru and thru. You can’t tell just what does it, but the spirit of the institution grows upon you and fills you with a great peace. Either the place is perfect or I am temporally blinded.”

THE YEARS OF EXPANSION

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