History of Adult Education: Cooperative Extension Service

 

Your Name	Commented On
Janet Shindler	Kailee Saulsgiver

Adult Education – The History of Cooperative Education Service

Janet Shindler

January 29, 2024

Abstract

            The history of organized adult education among rural farmers and their families dates to the creation of land-grant universities. A land-grant university receives funding from their state legislation. Three land-grant acts were approved in support of Cooperative Extension Service: the Morrill Act of 1862, the Morrill Act of 1890, and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914. The Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994 was later approved. In Indiana, Purdue University is the land-grant university servicing the state. This review will also look at a historic transcript written 10 years after the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 was approved. Finally, the review will look at where the Cooperative Extension Service is today.

                                                                          Introduction

            The Morrill Act of 1862 was passed to answer a need for agricultural and technical education in America. In the late 1800s, formal higher education was reserved for the wealthy. There weren’t many organized learning opportunities for rural farm families or women (Land-Grant University FAQ, 2024). With the Morrill Act of 1862, land-grant universities were created, receiving funding from their state legislations. Originally, the goal of a land-grant university was to teach agricultural, military tactics, and mechanical arts. They would receive a liberal, practical education (Land-Grant University FAQ, 2024). The Morrill Act of 1890 dealt with race relations, allowing Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) the same opportunities. Those institutions founded as a land-grant institution for black students were able to also obtain funds (Land-Grant University FAQ, 2024).

            The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 allowed farmers the benefit of agricultural information to be disseminated to farmers and farm families across the United States. The Act also provided legislation for new teaching opportunities for the farm wife and farm girls including basic homemaking and home management knowledge (Scholl, 2013).  In 1897, the Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson scribed in his repost to Congress, “For whatever will be effective in raising the grade of the home life on the farm, in securing the betterment of the farmer’s family and in the surroundings with the refinements and attractions of a well-ordered home, will powerfully contribute alike to the material prosperity of the country and the general welfare of the farmers.” (Scholl, 2013). The first Morrill Act of 1862 and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 together were instrumental in creating what we know as the Cooperative Extension Service today.

            The Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994 awarded land-grant status to Native American tribal colleges (Land-Grant University FAQ, 2024). There is one land-grant institution in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and six U.S. territories (Figure 1). With the passage of the Morrill Act of 1890, some states have more than one land-grant university, and with the passage of the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994, a few western and plains states have several land-grant universities servicing tribal colleges (Land-Grant University FAQ, 2024).

Figure 1

Map of Land-grant Universities 

            Purdue University was established as Indiana’s land-grant university in 1869 (Woodmansee, 2023). With the passage of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, the Cooperative Extension Service was created with the help of the USDA and created a world-class model system of adult and youth education programming. The first agricultural agent employed in Indiana was in 1912 in LaPorte County. The first demonstration agent was employed in Vanderburgh County in 1917 (Woodmansee, 2023).

            Many people associate the Cooperative Extension Service with agriculture and the youth 4-H programs, older youth groups were organized in several Indiana counties in 1934. The next year, statewide 4-H clubs were organized with older youths aged 18-28 years old, later holding State Rural Youth meetings on campus at Purdue University. Every Indiana county has hosted a Rural Youth club over the years (Woodmansee, 2023).

            Ten years after the passage of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, a transcript from the Office of Extension Service in Washington, D.C., written by C.B. Smith, reflects some early doubts about the land-grant program and the infancy of the Cooperative Extension Service. This is an excerpt of this transcript:

     “May we speak first of some of the early misgivings as to the plan of the extension enterprise and the workability of the cooperative feature of the extension act? The Smith-Lever Act was intended to enlarge and unify the extension work which the agricultural colleges and Federal Department of Agriculture were doing to promote the extension work, particularly by means of demonstration, provided also, for the continuance of the practice, already quite widespread, of locating men and women demonstration agents in each agricultural county in the United States, who would show the farmer, under his own vine and fig tree, how to mix sprays, select seed corn, fight the boll weevil, beautify and improve his home, and who would direct farmers and their families, including boys and girls, in putting on other demonstrations designed to show these same things (Smith, 1924).”

            The Cooperative Extension System is most widely known for the 4-H program for school-age youth but the system should be looked at as an “extension” of the land-grant university. Programs about agriculture, community development, food and nutrition, youth development, and natural resources all encompass what the local offices serve their communities. There are more than 3,000 county-based offices providing research-based information and education to citizens with the mission of improving their lives. The Cooperative Extension Service has come a long way since its inception. It is the largest adult education system in the United States, becoming more complex over time with the intention of ultimate sustainability (Franz & Townson, 2008).

           

 

Influential Factors

            Vermont representative, and later senator, Justin Smith Morrill sponsored the land-grant legislation. He is credited with its passage as well, first presenting it in 1857. It finally passed in 1859 after much turmoil. President Abraham Lincoln signed the first land-grant act into law on July 2, 1862 (Land-Grant University FAQ, 2024).

  Justin Smith Morrill

            Purdue University professor William Carroll Latta became the first superintendent of the Farmer’s Institute in Indiana. Laying the ground for the foundation of the Indiana extension programs, the Farmer’s Institute focused on agriculture. Latta was a huge supporter of encouraging the local young farmers to attend Purdue’s Winter Short Course, studying the science and practice of farming (Woodmansee, 2023).

            Indiana’s Cooperative Extension Service first Extension Agent was B.L. Hummel from Whitley County in 1917. In 1956, Margaret Rosentrader was employed as the first Home Demonstration Agent (Woodmansee, 2023).

Implications

            The future of adult and community education when it relates to the Cooperative Extension Service is bright. From its meager beginnings just wanting to educate farm families to the current state educating community members about gardening, cooking, the 4-H program, and so much more, the Cooperative Extension Service has grown so much since the late 1800s. My family has gained knowledge from its programs and for four generations have participated in the youth 4-H programs, both as a 4-H member and as a 4-H adult leader. My hope would be that many families could be touched by the knowledge that the programs of the Cooperative Extension Service offer in their area.

Table 1 Summary of History of Adult Education: Cooperative Extension Service
Area	Summary
Social Background	Higher education was reserved for the wealthy, land-grant universities were created, four funding acts were passed.
Highlights	Definition of land-grant university, Morrill Act of 1862 and 1890, Smith-Lever Act 1914, Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994, Purdue University as Indiana’s land-grant university, historic transcript from 1924, the status of Cooperative Extension Service today.
Influential Factors	Justin Smith Morrill, Purdue’s William Carroll Latta, B.L. Hummel, Margaret Rosentrader.
Implications	Cooperative Extension Service has a bright future, programs educate the community teaching gardening, cooking, 4-H program, programs have grown since the late 1800s, my family connection to the 4-H program.

 References

Franz, N. K., & Townson, L. (2008, September). The Nature of Complex Organizations: The Case of Cooperative Extension. Retrieved from New Directions for Evaluations: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227884037

Land-Grant University FAQ. (2024, January 28). Retrieved January 27, 2024 from Association of Publc and Land-Grant Universities: https://www.aplu.org/about-us/history-of-aplu/what-is-a-land-grant-university/#:~:text=Grant%20University%20FAQ-,What%20is%20a%20land%2Dgrant%20university%3F,Grant%20Status%20Act%20of%201994.

Rocco, T. S., & Smith, M. C. (2021). The Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education. Sterling: Stylus Publishing, LLC.

Scholl, J. (2013). Extension Family and Consumer Sciences: Why It Was Included in the Smith-Lever Act of 1914. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 8-16.

Smith, C. (1924, November). Cooperative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics. Retrieved Janaury 27, 2024 from Hathi Trust: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=rul.39030039485828&seq=5

Woodmansee, J. E. (2023, March 10). Origins of the Cooperative Extension System and Purdue Extension. Retrieved January 28, 2024 from Purdue University Extension: https://extension.purdue.edu/news/county/whitley/2023/03/origins-of-the-cooperative-extension-system-and-purdue-extension.html#:~:text=In%201935%20the%20Extension%20Service,had%20a%20Rural%20Youth%20club.