CONTACT WITH SOIL.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20098, 29 November 1930, Page 14

CONTACT WITH SOIL.

THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION " i . i GOV ERNOK-GENERAL'S ADDRESS i 'liitj ceremony or opening Uie exton- i sions to the farm at Rangiora High j School yesterday was chiefly remarkable for the support accorded rural education by his Excellency the Gover-nor-General (Lord Bledisloe). Claiming that in agricultural pursuits lay the greatest future for New Zealand, ho stoutly deiendcd rural bias, provided this was given with adequate safeguards. Contact with the soil, he said, muds for a wider mental and spiritual outlook, besides promoting physical health. He also advised the cultivation of a iovc of the countryside and of simple pleasures. Tho Old Outlook and the New. -'.lt seeing to bo one of the chief functions of a Governor-General to open things," began his Excellency. "At one time 1 find myself opening Parliament, at another conferences oiagricultural shows; and Rt another letters from various ambitious people who deiire to become one day Prime Minister of this country, and who seem to think L can effect the process by assisting with a short circuit, but never before have I had the privilege of opening a farm. I trust that, as the result of to-day's ceremony, tho 1 gateway has been opened to a held I of useful and practical knowledge. Your Principal remarked to me that Ihls gate separates the old block from the new, and I think that is significant, because it. seems to me that the gap is being bridged between the old educational outlook and the new. "You have hero a system of agricultural education which, up till ten years ago, even in the Old Country, would have been regarded with a certain amount of scepticism, if not with suspi-ion lam afraid we us.ed to look on education as a kind of gymnastics, winch enabled a boy or girl to educate himself in alter life, but we have now begun to realise that, if it is to have a stimulating interest and a vital effect in after-life, education is all the better for containing an element which will tnnke it more real. If it combines work with the hands wiih th-e training of the eye and the use of the brain then it is dome what 1 think Divine Previdence i n tetided. "The motto of your school is 'Lux cum amore,' which, if I might be allowed to interpret it in my own way, [ would translate 'a combination of up-to-date knowledge with all that is beautiful ami edifving.' Thar I take as the objective of the education you ore receiving here with the full concurrence of the farmers of the district, of the parents, and even of the Horongh Council. (Laughter.'! Potential Danger. "If there is one thing this country has to fear—in common with Great Pritain —it is the danger of insularity. I do not inofin so much geographical insularity, which wo in the Old Land think of as a source of strength, but insularity of outlook, which may prove a. serious bar to national development. 1 nm struck with two words in your syllabus describing the object of the course: to cultivate a sense of the 'spaciousness' of life and develop a 'creative' faculty. They have much ti commend them.

Promoting Harmony. "At this school you are working towards a great ideal, and I am glad to say that you are being helped towards its realisation by Ministers of the Crown and highly-placed Government officials. You, too, have an institution in this school which I imagine is peculiar to schools in this country—a school cosineil—hut 1 can tell you that all tho agricultural colleges and universities at Home have, either established or in contemplation, such councils, representative of teachers, parents, and students, thus making for a harmonious and thoroughly democratic system of administration. Nothing hinders tho development of a school more than lack of sympathy among teachers, parents, and students; this sympathy tho school council can bring about.

The Duty of a School. "VI hnt then, may 1 risk, is tho purpose of any school if it is to justify itself? It is much like that of a farm or factory . to turn out sound products of good quality at remunerative prices, and it is these products that our educational factories—.schools such as this must produoe by working on the raw material. The future of this Dominion —and it is a bright one whatever some may say to the contrary—depends on tho training and outlook with which you equip the children. What then is the destiny of these human products? Whence is their value to be derived? It appears to rne that, in this young country, there is endless scope for all such young people as you are providing hero. 0 Eural Extension. "This country is bound to be more closely settled in the near or moro distant future, and it is bound to be more intensively farmed, especially in tho matter of animal husbandry. Without due regard to rural extension any ether method of development would bo imprudent and would be sure to fail. I am certain that you will have to look to the land to* provide you with support for the population you require. Even those who are destined for the town will benefit from the training such as you here are receiving. An experiment which we tried in Gloucester—not without opposition —proved that tlic best training for the good wife and good mother is a training in domestic life such as 1 have seen some of vou receiving to-day We also found that the institution of school gardens and a training in manual dexteritv increased the literarv achievement of scholars by about 20 per cent. To teach boys and girls how to use _ their hands. eyes, and minds in unison is to produce tho best kind of workman obtainable. Contact -with the Soil. "With all its faults—and they axe many—tho United States is a "great country, . with a wonderful svstem of education, but there they will tell yon that they have not yet produced a great man who is more than two generations removed from tho soil. | " sav that_ contact with the soil makes for a wider mental and spiritual outlook and promotes phvsical health. Rural bias is a term rerv easily misunderstood. but you will see that I have a verv great svmpathy with it. being careful of course to see that ifc does no' develop into narrow utilitarianism or early specialisation. I am also slnd to notice that student;' here are encouraged to eniov simple pleasures. Can we say. in this countrv. where there is so much to be learned from Nature, that our urban pleasures are providing as creat an amount of re&J pleasure—not to spsak of mora! and spiritual health- -as our countryside? Our von lie people ought to be tauehi to use their eves, so as to realise the everlasting fascination which the countrvside possesses. If you have ears and eyes attuned there are pleasures

there greater than in any picture palace." Thanking his Excellency. Mr C. I. Jennings, chairman of the High School Board, said that perhaps oven Lord Bledisloe himself did not fully realise the service he had rendered them in speaking as he had done. Their work h::d not always been encouraged, but they had persisted. This was a redletter day in the school's history, for he was confident that the GovernorGeneral had done much to remove the prejudices against the school which had existed, and still did exist, even m the minds of some of those present.