Swords into ploughshares: A historical account of the institutional on-farm training program in Oklahoma under the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, 1945-1966

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: This research project was a study of the implementation of institutional on-farm training in Oklahoma under the GI Bill of Rights for World War II and Korean War veterans. The research questions addressed a) how the program was administered in Oklahoma; b) how the Oklahoma veterans' Agricultural Training Program contributed to the growth of vocational education leading to the development of a system of area technical schools, and c) the program's effect on the social and economic lives of the participants and their communities. The research methodology was historical research utilizing document analysis and the qualitative research method of oral history.

This study found that administration of the program stemmed from the major developments in the field of public administration during the Great Depression and World War II. Program leaders created alliances with external political and higher education leaders. The program created a culture for an independent, politically-powerful state vocational education agency, resolved the problem of a teacher shortage through the use of uncertified and/or provisionally certified teachers, established a tradition for summer conferences for vocational teachers, and created a curriculum development component within the agency. The study found that the program was an example of "picket-fence" federalism. The program was established as technical agricultural instruction but it also was community education that had a positive effect on veterans' reintegration and developed a cadre of community leaders. The program contributed directly to a positive perception of adult vocational education among its participants that was instrumental in the passage of a provision in the state constitution establishing the area technical schools system.