Vocational Education.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 May 1914, Page 3

Vocational Education.

EEJIAIiKS. The residential address delivered Wellington Pro--1 vincial Fan&ers' Union on Tues<la£ by Mr fc G. Wilson was most ; interesting: wherein it referred to ; education." ~ He. rethat the Union had done rauo*h to asist \ vocational educaVtion, imd iierjfdvent the -whole system had. r been changed: . ''We now .schools with their . seittol-gardehs adjoining," he said,K"in" whiqh most of the schol- • X ; ars "i'uke an interest and pride. C/;tTHey---are' thus brought in contact :;. : :;; ; with''Nature'-and•• her ways. We : -still lack, however, means of going further. The •Wanganui Education BoanL are perhaps in ad- < vance of any in this respect, and : I take the opportunity of tkankvingthem, on behalf of the farmers in this district for their progres- ;'' -siv& action. They .have two, if - 'notyinore, diyii^o 118 * where ai; ;ml > practical work pn the land is' ber.Kdone. They have an aprinnltiiWi instructor., jji the north and another in the south, .-and si ill another to supervise the work at Martoir ..' :whejre the High School boys from ■ Realities, come once a week ;lpor;wpi#bn ;fche plots. These stu- ** dents go for visits to other farms j and have once a year a camp [ animals are judged and classes are conducted on Bo that the pupils get a |d&pwleclge -and liking for country 'There we stop uialess the lad can get taken on as a "cadet on one of the Govern- ' ment experimental farms. Without going deeply into this important subject, I Tvoiild like to say there is some misconception, I think, in connection with an agricultural college. We have to prepare cadets for an agricultural college as much as we have to ( prepare youths for a University or small children in the kindergarten for higher classes. At an agricultural college it is a j waste of money to teach elementary work. This must be done before the student goes there. He requires to have a good general education and a partially trained jnind. I look forward to agrieullural high schools to do this. The | pupil there would probably have to live at home, or, at any rate, .in his own district. The very elementary work in agricultural work-in agricultural science would be done before he left the higher standards in the primary school. If he is able to take up a Jittle further science in a high school so much the better. The agricultural high school would have some practical work on the land itself, and enough would be taught at these schools of the science of agriculture to enable the pupil to go further with such work at an agricultural college,.to "top off," so to speak, there. Even if he did not go that length his training at the agricultural high school would be of immense benefit to him, if his life was to ' be passed in any capacity on the land. The students at the agricultural college would probably be those who—when the opportunity arrives—would pass such timp in'" practical work as is required to enable them to take a Bachelor of Agriculture degree. T.n all this great care must be taken so that there is no overlapping. But unless some steps are taken for preparatory classes, our agricultural colleges will not give the results which are expected of them.