ARIZONA'S SCHOOLBOY BUSINESSMEN

Growing up may be a nerve-racking, erratic, mis-guided process for many teenagers these days, but for one group of 1,500 Arizona high school boys it's strictly business. Being a Future Farmer of America isn't like anything else in the high school teenage world. The FFA is an association of very young businessmen, many of whom are financially independent even before they graduate from the twelfth grade.

They gain that end by following one of the most practical and American mottoes ever devised: Learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, living to serve.

That it does work is thoroughly demonstrated in the fact that in 1953 Arizona's FFA boys had nearly $1,000,000 ($925,000 to be exact) invested in agricultural and livestock enterprises of their own. As a group, the boys earned more than $300,000 from that investment. The 23 boys, who were awarded State Farmer degrees in 1953, had average investments of $7,000 each.

And don't get the idea that these boys are the sons of "well-heeled" cotton growers and cattlemen. They're mostly just average farm boys who are lucky enough to live in one of the 31 Arizona communities in which vocational agriculture has been made a part of the high school curriculum.

Taxpayers of these high school districts have recognized that farming is a science these days, a science in which many young men must be skilled and successful if future Americans are to have the food and clothing they need. They have directed their high school boards to set up courses in vocational agriculture, and the boards have asked the State Department of Vocational Education to locate teachers and guide the program.

That much accomplished, there remains just one problem: the teenage boys who are expected to take advantage of such an opportunity.

"Boys from 14 to 18 aren't automatically interested in any program of education," says J. R. Cullison, State Director of Vocational Education. "They have to be motivated somehow, and that's where the FFA comes into the picture."

Organized on a national scale in 1928, following the pattern of several local and state organizations that had grown up spontaneously, the FFA is now a boys' club that has chapters in every one of the 48 states, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. It remains, however, an organization by and for boys; run by the boys themselves, with a minimum of guidance at the local, state and national levels.

Here in Arizona, the adult FFA adviser is J. R. Cullison, but he has handed much of the responsibility for daily leadership over to Bob Taylor, a young man who was a national FFA officer himself not so long ago. As state executive secretary of the FFA, Taylor's job has been to develop leadership in the boys themselves. His role is a vital one.

Does it work? Do the farm boys really think of the FFA as their own organization? Perhaps an anecdote will best show that they do.

Football is the traditional big enthusiasm of high school students, and at Tolleson in 1950 Bruce Brooks was a top man on a winning team. He was chosen to play halfback in the All-State game at Flagstaff, one of the big ambitions of every high school player in Arizona. But for young Brooks there was a monumental decision to be made. He was a State officer in the FFA, and he was supposed to make an out-of-state trip in the interests of FFA on the day of the big All-State game.The decision wasn't easy, and Brooks weighed his choice carefully. He finally put his FFA responsibilities first and forfeited his place in the All-State game.

He went on to become State FFA president, and in 1953, at the national convention in Kansas City, he was awarded the coveted FFA American Farmer degree. Now married and operator of his own farm, he represents fulfillment of the aims of the boys' organization he served so unselfishly.

A farm boy's first contact with the FFA, if he is lucky enough to live in a community in which vocational agriculture is a part of the high school program, comes when he is about to leave the eighth grade. Usually it is the officers of the local FFA chapter who talk to him about their organization. It may be as individuals, or as a special program in the school auditorium.

At any rate, if he indicates that he is interested in taking vocational agriculture in high school, he is contacted during the summer by the vo-ag teacher, who, incidentally, works on a year-round basis rather than for the usual nine months most other teachers work.

When he enrolls in vo-ag that fall, he is invited to attend the first meeting of the local FFA chapter. He doesn't automatically become a member, but if he decides he wants to join he becomes a Green Hand, first degree of membership.

"I can teach agriculture to a boy who isn't a member of the FFA," says one vo-ag teacher, "but boys who are members learn faster, have more ambition and initiative. They teach each other by example, and provide the all-important opportunities for developing leadership."

Green Hands must meet certain obligations. They must set up their own farm enterprise, which may include projects in crop production, cattle growing or feeding, dairy herd management, poultry flocks, vegetable growing-any angle of agriculture in which they are most interested and for which they have facilities at home.

If they do not live on a farm, they may rent land from a farmer, or in some cases from the school. In any event, they must pay for the land they use, the crops they plant and the livestock they raise, out of the income produced from the enterprise. If the boy needs credit, he can usually get it from a bank or other farm credit source, since businessmen have learned that an FFA boy is usually a good business risk.

All through the year's work, the Green Hand has the assistance of his teacher and his fellow FFA members. His enterprise is inspected, his methods checked, his results evaluated, his bookkeeping checked and doublechecked. If he fails, he learns from the failure, but he knows he must make a certain minimum profit from his work if he is to win a Chapter Farmer Degree from his FFA Chapter buddies. The Chapter Farmer's record is examined every year by a committee of members, who decide whether results

warrant conferring the degree of State Farmer. Usually it takes a boy at least two years to win his State Farmer Degree. As mentioned before, the 23 Degree winners of 1953 had average investments of $7,000. That doesn't come easy, and by the time the goal is reached, every State Farmer has a new ambition: He wants to be named State Star Farmer of the year.The ambition of every FFA member, the Star Farmer award is granted only to one each year. To earn it, the boy must prove that he is a successful farmer or livestock producer, a leader in both FFA activities and other school affairs, a better than average student all around.

In 1953, the honor went to Gordon Hall, a Chandler boy who had earned more than $9,000 from his farm and livestock enterprise. His net financial worth was $17,000.

Of course, the worth of a man to society can't be measured by his financial success alone. The FFA creed and motto recognize, however, that a young man must be self-dependent before he can be a complete citizen. He must be able to support himself and his family before he can take on responsibilities of leadership in the general affairs of his community.

The emphasis on leadership is best seen at the FFA annual leadership conference, held each August in Prescott. The convention, conducted along the same lines as a national political convention, with official delegates from each of the State's 31 Chapters, and conducted by State officers, attracts some 400 FFA members from every corner of Arizona. Through four days of business sessions, committee meetings, awards programs and entertainment, the boys learn how to handle themselves in relation to others. That they come off with flying colors is proved by the welcome given them every year by the people of Prescott, and the unselfish financial support of State and National business houses that offer scholarships and expense-paid trips to vari-ous important national farm events.

The FFA, however, remains basically a grass-roots local organization, depending on community effort for its major support. More or less typical is the program at Marana, where high school district taxpayers have purchased a 125acre farm for use by the boys. Students of agriculture there may rent land from the school at a cost of one-fifth of what-ever crop they raise. The farm is completely self-supporting on that basis. The school also owns a tractor, two-row culti-vator, fertilizer application and mowing equipment. The FFA Chapter owns additional equipment, all of which may be had on a rental basis by students.

The Marana Chapter itself grows crops on a part of the school farm, managed by a committee of boys who keep records and do all the necessary work at 75¢ an hour. Profits from this go toward buying Chapter equipment and financing other enterprises the boys undertake.

Some of the State's FFA Chapters operate feed and fertilizer co-operatives for their members; some own equipment which they rent to farmers in the area and operate at regular rental rates.

Chapter officers handle all the business of the local group with the least possible amount of help from their vo-ag teacher.

"I consider myself a silent partner in every one of my boys' enterprises," says one teacher, "and simply a counselor in the affairs of the FFA Chapter."

In turn, the State FFA organization is run by officers elected at the State leadership conference, and they act in accordance with National FFA rules. It's a boys' organization, run by boys, for boys.

Perhaps another anecdote will serve to illustrate the practical accomplishments of the FFA. It happened in Arizona not so long ago. The FFA boy had completed a very successful farming season, with profits adding up to a very sizable bank account.

"I think I'd like a car," the teenage boy confided to his parents, "and I have the money to pay for it." He did, too!

So off he went to shop for a car. When he appeared at home a few hours later, however, it was not a low-slung purple convertible he drove. It was a shiny new pickup truck. "I decided to buy something I could use in my farm work," he explained.

No wonder parents are strong supporters of the FFA. Anything that puts ideas like that in the minds of teenage youngsters these days deserves all the support any of us can give to the organization and the boys who make it what it is.