George Santayana (1905), writing about experience and common sense, suggested,"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Thus, Santayana urged reflection on our past in agricultural education as we adapt to the future.Many suppose that agricultural education began with the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917. Football analyst, Lee Corso, might say—"not so fast, my friend." In the 1987 Agricultural Education Magazine, Editor Blannie Bowen and a collection of eight distinguishedauthors wrote of the 70th anniversary of Smith-Hughes, recognizing the prior policies and practices in some detail. Further, legislation preceding Smith-Hughes and the systematic program of vocational agriculture began with the Morrill Act of 1862, Hatch Act of 1887 and Smith-Lever Act of 1914. Federal legislation framed and reframed the content, context and culture of agricultural education and, to an extent, reframed its educational philosophy.
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