AGRICULTURE STUDY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 218, 9 June 1919, Page 8

AGRICULTURE STUDY

A SCHOOLS QUESTION TWO POINTS OF VIEW . Tlio conference convened by the Director of Education (Dr. Anderson) to discuss with, liiui measures for the improvement of the instruction to to given in the subject of agriculture in the primary and secondary schools was concluded on Saturday morning. Bight through the. 'conference there were two opposing bodies of opinion. Dr. Hilgeudorf, director of Lincoln Agricultural College, was the leader of one group, to which 1 belonged also the University science teachers present, and members of this party declared that agriculture could not be taught with any educational benefit, or any practical good, unless the. scholar first acquired a knowledge ,of the basic sciences. These gentlemen were not concerned with- socalled nature study lessons, or rural science lessons, but they would not.have it that the proper name for such teaching 'was agriculture, l and they disputed the value of these lessons for any purpose. The other body supported the opinion that if boys were to bo required to acquire a knowledge of the basio sciences before proceeding to the study of agriculture, most boys would' nevfir study it at all. They held that without knowledge, of any other sciences a boy could, be taught something about plant life, the germination and .growth ' of plants, the properties - of soils, and so on. 'This was the view of the Director of Education, and it was for tue purpose of improving this instruction thai ne had called the conference. The result of the conference was summed up in his concluding words to the delegates. "Although;" said Dr. Anderson, : 'lhe formal result of the conference may not appear to bo very great in the'shape of reports l.jy committees adopted, and re(■olutions passed, yet the great advantage —and it. is a' great advantage—to bo derived from a meeting of this kind is 'from the meeting itself, the interchange of ideas, of all points of view, in the free discussion of lopic after topic in the conference. .In that respect wo have been fortunate enough. AVe have, made in this .respect a very considerable advance towards co-ordination of effort, even nlthough that co-ordination is not expressed in a report. We have a clearer perception of the functions of ngricultural instructors in relation to primary and secondary schools, and in that respect the conference has done verv useful work.

'•Notwithstanding the. opinions that have with high authority been put before you to the effect that agriculture can Ijo studied only on the f/u-rn, that agriculture from a scientific point of view can be studied only by those who have had an elementary training in such basic sciences as physics, chemistry, and biology, yet we need not hide our iliminisned heads nnd deny the value of the instruction wo are giving on different lines. We approach agriculture not from the standpoint of the practical farmer, but from the standpoint of nature study training. We are taking agriculture as the development of the nature study of the primary schools. We are taking.the agricultural object, whether it be an apple or a potato, the stem of a tree, or a plant, or an animal, and we make this the basis of the cultivation of the mind of the boy in relation to his immediate interests in such n way as to give him an intelligent apprehension of agricultural processes when he comes to use them afterwards, and to approach these subjects in an -intelligent way, with a better attitude towards the. reasons for things than the mere rule of thumb practitioner would have. This is ibi tnc boy who may.have to earn his living from tho land. Of the other boy wo say that, we are making him n better citizeii in giving him a better attitude towards Jus surroundings. • T. am satisfied that we need not hide our diminished heads in the face of opinion that agriculture can lie studied' only from the point of view of practical work. Agriculture can, I b;lieve, bo _ profitably (studied from the point of view of service to man, and net from tho point of view of any science involved.

"I impress this viovr on you that you may go hack to your duties with the idea Hint you arc Riving good service even if you are not teaching agriculture from the point of view of scientific farming. . I am satisfied that if our hoys and girls who have heen in (he secondary departments of our district high schools, or the junior classes, of the secondary schools, our hoys who have gone through this course of extended nature study, or agriculture, or rural science—whichever namo you choose to call it—studied or approached in the way indicated, do go on a fnrm later, if they have to sol ahout learning tin; actual practice of agriculture hy becoming cadets on -private farms or on public experimental farms, they will approach (.lie work (hat lias to he done I here with a far more intelligent spirit, in a far hotter spirit, than could possibly have been expected under other conditions. Whether he is to become a 'citizen earning his living ■Mi-ay from t-bo land, or whether he is to become a tiller of the. soil himself, if a boy has had two or Unco years of study such as you have to give him, you will mako him a lietter farmer, if he is to bo a farmer, and you will make him a better citizen, than ho could be under any other conditions."