The Dominion. THUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1915. A PRACTICAL ACHIEVEMENT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2388, 18 February 1915, Page 4

The Dominion. THUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1915. A PRACTICAL ACHIEVEMENT

■ The marked success which has been achieved in the matter of vocational instruction in the Wanganui Education District should provide a strong incentive to other boards and to the Central Department to devote more attention to this important problem, In yesterday's issue we published a most illuminating statement by Mr. Pirani, giving a detailed description of what has been done by the Wanganui Board and its teaching staff. As the board's chairman, Mr. Pirani is in a position to speak with authority on this subject, and his article deserves the careful consideration of all interested in the education of our _ young people. He makes no special claim to credit for himself for what has been achieved. He is generous in his praise of others, and tells us that his share in the movement has been confined to encouraging those who are carrying on the work, "maintaining a cheery optimism in the face of discouragements,' and loyally standing by the men whose brains are being and have been utilised to give the rising generation help which will enable tnsm to become better citizens and more fully equipped for the world they will be. able to do so much for when they come into their inheritance of manhood." If Mr. Pirani had merely adopted this role of cheerful optimist and sympathetic friend ho would' have earned the gratitude of the o6mmunity, but those who have had any experience of his enthusiastic spirit, his capacity for hard work, and his unfailing fund of energy, will not need to be told that he has'borne his full share of the burden. The vivid and masterly way in which he sketches the history of the movement proves convincingly that his whole heart is in the work, and that he has devoted a great deal of time and thought to it. It has been an uphill struggle. Pioneer enterprise generally is. By failure and disappointment the board and its staff have learned to avoid wrong roads and to use the right ones. "They, have had to build afresh on the ruins of the past, over and over again, until at last something like a system was evolved warranted to stand the severest tests." Education systems do not drop from the sky complete and ready made. They nave to be gradually built up and modified from time to time on lines suggested by practical experience. The problems which present themselves have to be solved as the work goes on.. Some failures are inevitable, but good work is never entirely wasted, and there are "high failures," which, we are told, overtop mean successes. The Wanganui Board seems to have learned wisdom from its failures, and to have discovered what will do by finding out by experience what will not do. And now Mr. Pirani claims—and he backs up his claim with an impressive array of facts— that-the movement has passed from the initiatory or experimental phase to the stage of actual achievement. It should bo hardly necessary to state that a good deal is being done in the way of agricultural education in other educational districts. In many rural schools in the Wellington district the children are receiving instruction which should give them an intelligent interest in country life and work. Auckland has,also made a beginning, and is about -to make a big step forward. But Wanganui appears to have secured the leading position as far as agricultural instruction is concerned. The systsm in'Wanganui is now established on such broad and firm foundations that it has succeeded in linking up the Technical College, the country technical schools, the secondary classes of the district high schools, the field classes and the camps, and the primary schools and tneir gardens. This is a great achievement, and the success of the movement has been very largely due to the generosity and enthusiasm of the people themselves. The principle of self-help has been put into operation, and the Central De- ; partment does not seem to have been too lavish either in the matter of .sympathy or financial assistance. In such matters success largely depends on 'the moral support of those immediately concerned. In order to obtain this the farmer and the business man must be convinced that any scheme they may be asked to assist is a really practical one—that the result aimed at is worth while, and that tho proposed means of reaching it are likely to prove successful. Level-hcadecl men have neither tiie time nor the inclination to bother with fads and chimeras, and tho fact that the Wanganui Board has succeeded in enlisting the help of the business and farming community may be regarded a-s a proof that the work is being carried out on sound and practical lines, and that it will prove of real benefit to the nation. Tho system which is described so interestingly by Mr. Pirani cannot fail in the course of time to increase the productiveness of the land, to raise the average standard of dairying, and to have a beneficial effect on the other country industries. The younger generation will want to put their new ideas into practice and try new methods. They will have learned that agriculture is one of the most progressive of sciences, and that there are no limits to its possibilities. They will know that scientific' farming is an intensely interesting occupation, and well worthy of all the thought and attention, the most active brains can give it. They will be more ready than tho older people to get out of ruts and grooves, and to adopt tho most up-to-date ways and appliances. They will realise that knowledge is power in agriculture as in other spheres of activity. This enterprising disposition is the natural fruit of the scientific spirit, tho cultivation of which should be one of the main objccts of the school course, I